#who cares about his anger and humiliation? who cares about his character development? who cares about the messages about abuse?

[beevean]

Yeah, she was done dirty. She could have been such a great villain, a selfish manipulator only concerned with her own comfort, hiding behind a veneer of condescending kindness that hid a deep desire to have power over others (desire spurned by the awareness that no one likes her so she has to force people to like and respect her), a monster wearing the mask of a human even if it hurt her (clipping her claws, dousing herself in perfume to hide the stench of blood) because she resents her own cursed condition to the point of not even wanting to bite people but only to not feel "guilty" about it, eventually regretting the awful way she treated the only man who showed her kindness but too prideful and childish to apologize. The elements for a good character were all there, she's fun to think about!

Too bad she was conceptualized by a sexual abuser and it shows, from how her consistent physical, emotional, mental and sexual abuse of Hector in S3 is portrayed as masturbation fodder because haha hot girl puts a leash on a submissive peggable idiot, and in S4 she gets out on nowhere painted as a poow widdle girl who did nothing wrong 🥺 and the man she raped into slavery shows zero conflict about how this woman who pretends to be nice to him also broke his heart in the most visceral of ways.

You could have had a heartbreaking story about how Hector's constant abuse broke him, and the way he crawls back to a woman who only showed him the bare minimum of decency shows how he would do anything to feel that someone out there cares about him, even when it's not true. You could have had an intelligent, nuanced story about the intricacies of abuse and toxic relationships, how people can like you and care about you and want the best for you and still hurt you in irreparable ways, because their selfish desires and need for control is stronger than what you need to thrive. Instead, I got this:

Yay, "it's not rape if you enjoyed it" turned into sassy banter! Just what I like from the characters I'm supposed to root for and empathize with :)

I'm sure the genuinely well-meaning, gentle Lenore who fell in real love with Hector that exists in fans' headcanons is a lovely character. I would love to meet her, I also have a Lenore in my head who is a very complex villain. But what I saw on screen from day one was a poor excuse of jerkbait with three different personalities and the source of appalling abuse apologism, because it's fine, she's hot, he deserved it for being stupid, she raped him for his own good, actually it wasn't even rape because when someone lies to another person for the express purpose of having sex which leads to being trapped in an unwanted relationship is just a little dirty trick, a small lie, no biggie, of course the person who was lied to will eventually understand and forgive and want to kiss the person who betrayed them!

Pictured: a poor woman pressured by her peers who was very torn over having to resort to rape by deception to enslave the man she kept molesting for no practical reason other than her amusement. Sure, she could have just offered Hector the position of pet the moment she told him that Carmilla no longer had use for him, and he would have accepted because Hector's only objective in life is feeling cared for, but hey, why not truly humiliate him to feel more powerful? :)

anyway Lenore was never a good person. She had fun toying with the heart of a man for the sake of turning him into a tool to use to enslave people: she did little harm compared to Dracula, sure, but it's more personal, and motivated by even pettier reasons than "wife died", because everything about her screams "I want to feel in control and powerful". And much like Dracula, I would have been perfectly fine with her being a vile piece of shit (well, the writing in S3 still sucks because she's bullying a shell of a man and there's no meaningful conflict, but eh, I could go on a rant on how Hector was done dirty) were it not for the fact that the writing insisted that I should feel sorry for a whiny abusive ineffectual cowardly brat who only thinks about her own pleasure and can't even see the man she trapped as his own person, whose main source of angst is "besties don't like me and Carmilla's plan would be inconvenient to me and my feelings 🥺"

(I linked to too many posts here. I have sources for everything I said. Look at how much proof I collected that Lenore never loved Hector or saw him as a person! It's honestly impossible to read her from any other angle.)

So in short, she's cruel, she's petty, she's disgusting, she's incompetent (using her pussy to unnecessarily trick a man who is painted as so stupid he's on the verge of being called the R-slur doesn't speak highly of her manipulative skills), she's whiny, she's a hypocrite, she doesn't even do anything concrete in the plot (I love me some cringefail villains who still have some gravitas to them, like OG Isaac and Dahlia Hawthorne), she does like one (1) good thing and it didn't even matter, and her grand finale is ragequitting from life like a kid who lost too many times at a videogame, abandoning like he was a mere afterthought the man who cut his own finger to get rid of the slave ring she put on his hand and still chose her. peak. she's lucky that her design was artificially engineered to be as cute as possible, because that's deadass the only reason fans tear their hair to justify her and defend her.

S4 was bad and she was particularly pathetic there (seriously that ring was fucking pointless), but that didn't make her a good character in S3 either. So yes, she deserved to be written by someone who understands the gravity of abuse and doesn't think some people are so stupid that they deserve to be harmed.

lenore is a very well-written character that is written very well

[blumyng]

The narrative is losing cohesion. At this point, Epic should be called very loosely inspired by Odyssey and we should ignore all reference to the greek myths altogether.

And for people arguing that it's not weird that a mere mortal defeated a god... gods, specifically Olympians always win in the end. Non-Olympian gods like Scamander or Thanatos may lose temporarily but what happened to the winners? Achilles dies (although his death is complicated and not really about Scamander and he was a particularly divine demigod). Sisyphus is condemned to an eternal torture. Diomedes wounds Ares and Aphrodite but with the backing of Athena. Neither were "defeated" and since they were technically not allowed to interfere in the war he got off lightly but that's an exception. Certainly no one escaped divine retribution from their attempts to one-up and humiliate the (Olympian) gods. So many Greek myths warn people from that hubris. No one just suddenly, with no divine help, gets powerful enough to completely defeat, humiliate, and torture an Olympian god and actually get away with it. Even if they did at the moment, the gods WILL take their revenge. Just like Poseidon claims, what's to stop him from creating a tsunami to drown Ithaca after that defeat? He can even do it far away from Ithaca. What's to stop other gods from taking umbrage to Odysseus' actions? And how will Odysseus stop them? This "power-up" certainly cant make him stop a literal tsunami or concentrated thunder or any myriad of ways gods can fuck up mortals. If he could, well then, why did we bother so much about the power of the gods in the previous sagas? Why did Odysseus and his crew suffer what felt like inescapable pain? Why did Astyanax have to die?

Because why now? If Odysseus can suddenly become powerful through powers of anger, madness, love, friendship(?) or whatever why not before? Why not when his crew died to the Cyclops, when first attacked by Poseidon, when faced with Zeus? Why does Odysseus gets to suddenly break the rules? If there are reasons to it, it's not told in the songs. The logic of the world suddenly collapses.

And dont even talk about that ridiculous power-up. I dont care if it's animation and game influenced. The title says "the musical". It's published first and foremost as songs, advertised as a musical. If people are confused about the sudden turn of events after listening to the songs, the story is not properly explaining itself.

The narrative simply does not match the genre nor respect its original sources. I felt it concerning that Athena's character seemingly collapsed in the Wisdom saga. She was a cool, calculating and exacting strategist in the earlier sagas, Odysseus and she parted on explicitly bad terms and then in the Wisdom Saga she suddenly turns into this worried, friendship-cherishing quasi family friend who stakes her life trying to rescue her "friend". Some crucial character development is missing from the end of the Cyclops saga and the Wisdom saga. Yes, she turns back time to see what Odysseus suffered. But again, why his suffering post-My Goodbye softens Athena when his previous hardships didnt move her?

Zeus too becomes a caricature of himself. In his previous appearances, he was a self-assured judge of both men and gods and he delivers fate and divine judgements to Odysseus (though he does comes off as cruel). Yet in the God Games, he is like an angry toddler, mad that his daughter dare win the game he proposed. He promised to grant her wish if she win his game but then he gets so mad?? I'm not saying that Zeus can't be both majestic and petty but the jump from one character to another with no explanation is jarring.

The songs still sound great, the singers did a super job and Act 1 raised some genuinely deep questions about the nature of humanity, monsters, and fate. But the recent sagas are quickly losing that strongly compelling narrative that I believe was the backbone of this musical.

[hp-confessions]

That one Bellamort hating anon…..

Look, I’m a die hard Harrymort|Tomarry shipper and by no means a Bellamort shipper at all, but my gosh is there is a lot to unpack there.

Why do people think it is better than Harrymort just because Bellatrix would accept Voldemort's immoral character and would love him for who he is?

…Really think about what you just wrote. I’m pretty sure that you answered your own question here. The fact that she would accept & love him no matter what he does or who he is, is a pretty amazing reason for their ship to be good, and better. Like, Idk what you were getting at with this part 😭

That girl is deranged and obssessed

Okay, and that’s an issue because???

Have you really read any Tom|Voldemort x Harry fic? They literally always write Voldemort to be crazy obsessed with Harry and the most deranged, out of pocket, motherfucker to step foot in Harry’s life.

She is enraged by just hearing about Voldemort's blood status which is a proof that V wouldn't feel comfortable telling her about his past, in the beginning of their "relationship".

Well duh, she doesn’t like “filthy” blood, but Voldemort isn’t just anyone. He is her master, lover, and god. He doesn’t count. His blood will never be/could never be “filthy.” To her, his presence is an honor, and his blood is special and its own thing. Anyways, I guarantee you Voldemort wouldn’t have gave a fuck if someone was uncomfortable learning about his blood status. The little fucker lived for making people uncomfortable and humiliating them.

Voldemort needs someone who's on more equal footing to him even tho he would absolutely hate it.

Well, it’s definitely not Harry. Harry’s a victim. Perhaps you’re talking about Dumbledore? Riddledore shipper found?

He needs to feel that anger and hate in order to become better.

Once again, riddledore?

And there’s no getting better for him or fixing him because he, himself, doesn’t want it. Even in canon, he denies repentance and in return damns himself.

Bellamort is the easier ship. Harrymort is the ship of redemption, of drama, of passion, of trying to develop genuine respect for each other, of humanity.

You’re right, Bellamort is the easier ship (and the most canon). All that about Harrymort is great too, absolutely love it! But truly to Voldemort’s character, he would’ve chosen Bellatrix in a heartbeat. He doesn’t care about respect, redemption, humanity, or whatever. He cares about himself and power.

They are soul bound. They feel their emotions and share dreams.

Harry is the only one with another soul in him. And i’m pretty sure the whole “feeling emotions and sharing dreams” thing is one sided on Harry’s part because he’s the one with Voldemort’s soul in him.

Voldemort is obssessed with Harry.

Because he wants the kid 6 feet under ground, hope that helps! 🤗

Even if he doesn't view him as a human being in the canon story, fics can still make Voldemort evolve in this aspect. With Bellatrix it's just boring

The first half is funny as hell. But if Voldemort can “evolve” in fics for Harry, why not with Bellatrix? I don’t get what the blockage is or what’s stopping it.

Let's say she would get over his blood status. That she would stop putting him on a high pedestal. She can love him maybe

If she knows his blood status in canon, then she did get over it because once again that’s her man right there. When it comes to him, he can and does get away with everything. She’ll just deny deny deny. His blood isn’t “filthy”, it’s special and superior, like him (to her, at least). And she does love him, an unhealthy amount, in fact. So idk what that “maybe” is for.

Bellamort shippers claim she would love him for all that he is and wouldn't want him to change. Maybe. I suppose he might feel more free with her since he would feel loved with no conditions

They’d be right, ultimately. And he most definitely would, which is why, like I said, he would choose her over Harry.

But that would just be pouring oil on the fire. He would still continue to be the same monster because she would fuel his ego and narcissism. He wouldn't change. She would love him yes, but that's it.

So? Light it ablaze and let it burn.

This lowkey reminds me of the lyrics:

“Fire on fire would normally kill us

But this much desire, together, we're winners

They say that we're out of control and some say we're sinners

But don't let them ruin our beautiful rhythms

Cause when you unfold me and tell me you love me

And look in my eyes

You are perfection, my only direction It's fire on fire”

Like you can’t tell me that isn’t Bellamort.

Anyways, once again, no one is changing him. Not a soul, because HE DOESN’T WANT TO BE CHANGED. He likes who he is.

He would still murder and kill. He would still think of her as a fuel to his ego. Someone that loves him and doesn't challenge him in life. Someone that gives comfort and excitement but nothing else.

He always will murder and kill, no mater what. And he would love that about her, he has a big ego. He doesn’t even like people like that, so what she offers him, he would like.

Not to mention they would abuse each other and not in the thrilling ways I like to read about.

Huh?? Abuse each other?? There is a very big power dynamic here. The only one doing the “abusing” is him, and there would barely be any because she is pretty fucking obedient and loyal. So what is he going to abuse her for?

With Harry it is different. Harry challenges him. Harry makes him angry. Harry makes him question reality. Harry makes him change and of course he would hate it but that makes for a more interesting story

So did Dumbledore, and what happened to him?

Once again, for the hundredth time, Harry is not making him change. NO ONE IS!!!

With Bellatrix he stagnates. It is definitely a more realistic ship in regards to canon but to me it is just such a bore.

Ahh, I see!

So what you were getting at is that while Bellamort is the most canon, the one that makes the most sense, and the most realistic, it’s just not your cup of tea. You prefer the tropes and dynamics in Tom|Voldemort x Harry fics instead. That while both ships are toxic, you lean towards the more toxic and difficult ship. I get it!! I also prefer it.

Was just really confused on why you were confused people found Bellamort to be better than Harrymort, and all the other nonsense you were talking about.

~

[bharv]

oh hey! actually i was very curious - i never played bg3 in early access, and i heard wyll changed a lot? i have many thoughts about him, but also he ended up with... the least cutscenes and dialogue of any companion by far, despite theoretically having a huge connection to the main plot. it's hard to figure out whether there was an actual issue with the original writing, or if it was just racism that made people dislike the early version so strongly, RIP. what was he like in there?

- the gale thoughts anon <]:)

Hello anon. I was going to answer this with links etc but I have no idea when I’m going to be on desktop. So, with apologies that this is a bit scatty and off the hoof.

Starting with the obvious (or maybe the thing I need to make obvious!) that I’m not a Black fan, I don’t speak from that experience and you should seek out the writings of fans who really know what they’re talking about around fandom racism, which is a real fucking problem.

And! With the caveat that I cannot be totally objective about this because I LOVED early access Wyll in an EMOTIONAL way. I loved Lanre’s performance, I was bewitched body and soul by this silly man. I still think of him. I loved that boy! But!

I kind of think it’s a bit of both. Which I know will sound like a cop out.

I was disappointed in the fan reaction that Wyll was boring. It felt very off to me as his story was rich with potential. He was a charming, swashbuckling folk hero who wanted to be the hero SO BAD. A guy who wants to be a hero so much, but is also so bad at it! When you went to the fire, everybody was like oh fucking hell, not this idiot. Not Nepo-baby Wyll who flunked out of the Fist despite being a descendant of Eltan himself (I loved this moment, it was a real reveal of ohhh, he’s not what he thinks his is or says he is.) Who is humiliated by goblins as a young man and in a moment of weakness, signs a pact that changes his life? Who uses it to do good things, but is still a little immature, a little too passionate, and can still have that shade of a man who cares a little too much about heroics, instead of what it truly means to be good? It was JUICY! Not to even mention his malapropisms, his attempts to be seductive and being so silly. Man, he was so soft and fun but with this real core of anger that he didn’t know what to do with, a man of passions who made a mistake he didn’t know how to deal with.

So yeah. I do think that it was influenced by the fact he was a Black character and they didn’t bother to try to play with him.

However, I also see why they rewrote him. In the original drafts, Wyll’s relationship with Mizora was coded a bit more personally than what we got if that makes sense. It felt like they were almost in a toxic situationship. She was constantly communicating via his sending stone, and was very much a part of his day to day life. And that, with how things would pan out if it ends in the same kind of way would have been. Eesh. Not good, especially with her human design being a white woman. Also, and I’m not saying this is a good thing… but it’s what I personally saw, there was some overlap in themes with Gale. The romantic patron storyline, the hubris. And early access Gale was a bit more serious, and it was probably a bit of a waste of having comedy actor like Downie in the role (which is quite a bit of casting, he’s very well respected in audio work so it seems silly not to use all his talents.) so a lot of the silly puns and lightness sat naturally in a Gale rewrite, or development.

I just wish there had been more time. I think Theo’s performance is lovely and I love the Wyll we got. He absolutely smashed it and I was SO worried when I heard about the recast as a huge Lanre Malaolu fan. I love that he’s a romantic, I love that he’s so self sacrificing and strong and GOOD. The earliest days of early access, everybody was either evil or VERY morally dubious. It needed at least one good character, and Wyll was a great choice for that character. I just hope against hope that we do get some more act 3 upper city content for him. It feels like that is where he would really shine.

Also if you ever get a chance, as an aside, to see Lanre Malaolu dance? Run, don’t walk. He is an incredible choreographer, actor, director. One of the most thrilling people working in theatre today. I am a mega fan. I think he has some work on YouTube, so get acquainted as he is truly something special.

[hamliet]

Didn't realise you watched RWBY, hamliet. Pleasant surprise! Who would be your favourite character from it, and why? Just curious.

Drumroll...

Mercury Black!

This will shock no one who has followed me for any length of time. Give me a character who is angry at the world, who has been through hell and just wants to survive, who cloaks fear and trauma in anger and armor, who desperately wants love and safety but doesn't even realize it themselves.

Mercury's internal conflict is fascinating thus far. He deeply cares about Emerald--that much is obvious. People call Mercury crueler than her, but I don't see that at all. He's been protecting her from their very first scene together, and this extends to protecting her from Tyrian (an obvious stand-in for his father). He even is upfront with Emerald about Cinder's abuse of her.

Mercury is honest with Emerald because she meets him where he's at. The conversation between them in Volume 6 is one of the best scenes in the show--you'll note that Mercury only opens up to Emerald after she starts meeting his blows. In other words, Mercury opens up to Emerald because she meets him where he's at, in the language he understands, even if it's violence at the moment. This scene is so telling on not just Emerald and Merc's relationship, but about Mercury and how he sees love, family (the topic of the conversation), and connection. Violence to him is those things. Why wouldn't it be?

And yet, there's a part of him that clearly knows it's not how it should be. Tyrian calls him out on this in that very same scene, and Mercury also clearly snapped and killed his father. He was raised by an assassin who abused him, stole his soul, left his body injured permanently. He's now subject to Tyrian who gives off extremely disturbing vibes. Obvious subtext is obvious.

Yet, Mercury still defends Emerald from Tyrian. From Cinder. From Roman.

He's also extremely well written. Like, his arc is still largely ahead of us, but in each and every scene he's in? We learn something new about him. His arc has never stagnated, not for one scene. I don't think you can say this about literally any other character.

Mercury's arc has potential to be one of the best explorations of abuse in the show, and potential to be pivotal plot-wise, world-building wise, and theme-wise.

Plot-wise, I think Mercury realizing that he's still being abused by Salem, Tyrian, and Cinder would provide Cinder with a very necessary wakeup call. (Clearly, Cinder was hurt that Emerald left, but she wasn't woken up. At this point, Salem's approval and disapproval haven't woken her. Emerald leaving her hasn't either. Her Grimm arm and Ruby's likely compassion should play a part in waking her up, but Mercury's leaving her--hopefully with a callout that mimics Yang's epic call out of Raven in Volume 5--will jump-start her self-reflection.

World-building wise, I think it's pretty likely Mercury will get his semblance back, or develop a new one. Abuse does hurt you. It can damage you in some ways. But it can't take your soul, and even if what you have left feels damaged, you can still make something of that, and heal. Mercury's semblance being uncovered somehow offers massive potential for how we understand semblances.

Lastly, thematically. Mercury keeps acting out his own abuse. Not only through hurting and humiliating others, but through the relationship with Tyrian clearly being a stand-in for his father, through Cinder also being a stand-in for his father, through the Vytal Festival, too. Let's see, a boy whose father destroyed him body and soul and was completely ignored by society feigning the destruction before the entire world--wonder why he might enjoy that sympathy. But part of what RWBY is about is calling out the hidden truths--Salem, the treatment of the faunus, the disparities between Mantle and Atlas--and bringing them into the light. From what we've seen of Cinder and the children in cages, Remnant has a serious problem with child abuse. Mercury getting fake-injured in front of them all could have been a wakeup call. Plus, breaking the cycle--which I'm fairly certain he will do--is powerful itself.

[saelrum]

I love Sohone, even more than Mune. He is a well-written character with his flaws. And that makes it interesting. In the course of the story, he develops and changes for the better, helps his friends several times and fights with Necross, in order to save his native Planet. And the scene where the snakes almost turned him into a demon, I will never forget. She hurt me deeply. I felt terribly sorry for him. The way he was humiliated and insulted was remembered for a long time in my head. I especially remember in my mind. I especially remember the phrases "You are the worst of all the Guardians of the Sun" and "You are blacker than Necross! You are a Demon!" I can’t imagine how painful it was for him to hear all these humiliations addressed to him. But he could face humiliation from parents and society. This may also explain his anger issues and low self-esteem, which he carefully hides from others behind his back confident smile. I think this snake incident might have a big impact on him. And his mental state can become even worse. But the worst thing is that his "friends" did not know at all that their friend suffered. Mune and Glim didn't care about him. They were only having fun in the Dream World while he was suffering from snakes. It's good that Phospho helped him. He acted like a real hero and friend. It's a pity he died. But they could become good friends or even family. But alas, this will never happen. And this makes me very upset. I'm kin Sohone. He is somewhat similar to me. And I'm very sorry that in the Guardian of the Moon fandom they don't like him. Almost everyone considers him a "narcissistic bastard", although he is not at all like that. I never understood why he was treated so negatively. I will never understand this. And I won't understand. And what do you think about it? I would be interested to hear your point of view.

Jesus that's... A lot of text xDD

I think I told you my general opinion in the previous answer, so I don't really have much to add.

I agree with you, but I don't think the whole fandom doesn't like him. Some people don't like Sohone, but there're a lot of folks who do. The big guy has his own fan base)

The other thing I don't agree with is that Mune and Glimm didn't care about Sohone. Like... They had no idea what was even happening to him while they were rescuing the Moon. And they had no time to regroup and talk, the fight with Necros began as soon as they all stepped into his lair. Sohone proven himself as capable to hold his own, so I don't think his friends fear for him too much as they know he can handle a lot of things. Much more than they can. He's the Sun's champion, after all.

Yeah, some things in this movie could've been better, like friendship development between Sohone and Mune/Glimm.... But I'm still really grateful for what we've got

[winxbutbetterimo-ovo]

Riven long ver 1

(some stuff is from the fan wiki i just tweaked)

Name: Riven Liam Arthur

Looks: Aesthetics only gym bro (so he strong but not stronger than Helia for example) . His skin is rosy with a slight tan, and his eyes are narrow and indigo-colored. He has short red-violet hair that is spiked back with only two bangs framing his face.

Relationships: Soulmate is Musa (after a shit ton of work to deserve her ofc) he is the closest to Nabu, has a rivalry with Sky

Personality: He is very insecure on the inside coz he thinks he needs to be better than everyone or else he is nothing. he is also thin-skinned and sensitive to what people thought about him. As a result, he is easily affected when people laughs at or humiliates him. Riven's insecurities caused him to doubt the authenticity of those around him and question who his true friends were.

But on the outside, Egotistic. Riven is the impulsive, competitive, realistic and goal-oriented member of the Specialists. He can be rather hot-headed, experiencing moments of envy and blind aggression; but he is also protective and caring (mostly towards musa or his parents but only when they arent looking). This compassion is not solely limited to his love interests, as he was extremely unwilling to leave Griffin and her students behind while they were imprisoned in their school's dungeon during the Trix's ongoing invasion. Riven has trouble expressing his emotions in a suitable manner, even when he is not putting up a cold front. He is a bit of a lone wolf. arrogant and mean-spirited, which often puts him at odds with everyone.

Despite his initially unfriendly attitude, Riven is shown to have a conscience early on, though it is often overshadowed by his many shortcomings. He can also be reflective when not blinded by his anger. Riven expresses that there are many things he dislikes about himself, but denies the notion that he is a monster, claiming that even he "has a heart". He goes on to prove this statement through his gradual development as a character. Riven displays an even more vulnerable side when he went off to mourn and cry for Nabu when he died.

As time goes on, he still struggles to express his emotions, he is noticeably friendlier and more cooperative. he becomes more compassionate and relaxed, no longer taking his friends' jokes too seriously (even making some himself). He smiles a lot more and doesn’t mind engaging in some goofy behavior. In spite of this, Riven remains a straightforward and blunt person. He is very realistic and vocal. he listens to Timmy when he says he can still sense Tecna's magical vibe (indicating she is alive) and quietly comforts him.

History: his family are all uber successful and he is praised for his intensity at home coz he and his brothers r all rlly competitive. He was pretty privileged as a child so he never knew any hard times, and thus he sees “struggling” as a weakness that people need to overpower. His parents spoiled him for sure. After season 3 Musa breaks up with him after the events of the movie since he was so easily used as a spy again. He acts like it doesn't bother him and dates around but he actually really misses her. In season 4 they get back together in the middle after Riven proves that he has changed/is trying to change for the better.

Weapon: a scimitar-styled purple phantoblade and a bolas, sometimes he also uses a dagger boomerang. He is also very good at dragon wrangling and is a very skilled thief and lock picker. all his wepons are purple in colour, like the gem on his uniform

[greatearthquakestudent]

Characters Anaylsis: True Strong Females

Samantha LaRusso and Tory Nichols

A lot of feminism these days are weak, bland, or stupid as heck. But Cobra Kai has able to produce two true strong female characters, Samantha “Sam” LaRusso and Tory Nichols. 

Some people may say Sam is an annoying brat or Tory is a psychotic murderer. But I call that flawed characters more than anything else. Both these two have done terrible shit, but they also mean well too.

Early Lives:

Samantha “Sam” LaRusso:

Samantha aka Sam LaRusso is the daughter of two time all valley champion and successful salesman, Daniel LaRusso. Her mother Amanda LaRusso (Steiner) is a tough chick from the mid-west. She’s also the older sister of Anthony LaRusso. And the granddaughter figure of the wise karate master, Mr. Nariyoshi Miyagi.

Sam was raised in a wealthy house alongside her younger brother, Anthony LaRusso. Being from tough backgrounds, both her parents had spoiled her and brother to near ways of other rich kids.

At a young age, her father and grandfather started teaching Sam karate, which she shows true talent in. She trained for several years. But around the time Mr. Miyagi passed away, Sam dropped karate from her life.

She befriend a girl named Aisha Robinson at a young age, and later in life, befriended two popular girl named Yasmine and Moon causing her to ignore her friend.

Tory Nichols:

Tory Nichols was born to an unfortunate family. Her father was a deadbeat, her mother was a struggling worker, who barely can make enough money. She has a younger brother named Brandon Nichols, and a criminal for a aunt named Kandace Nichols.

Early in her life, her father has abandoned her, her mother, and her brother for whatever reasons. Her mother had been kicked out of a good waitress job for taking used food out of the trash. This incident made Tory believe that the fortunate are selfish and heartless monsters who won’t care for people like them.

Later in her life, her mother fell ill to a unspecified illness. This causes her to be the adult of the household. She started working minimal wage jobs to make money to take care of her mother, raise her brother, and pay the bills. But since she basically is now her mother, she developed a hatred and anger for these things. 

She also get scammed for her at, who wants her mom to die, so she have her and Brandon for guilt-trip money. She had been threatened with sexual assault by her landlord.

Season 1:

Sam

We see first the young LaRusso through an event. She was one of three girl hit- car accident of future sensei Johnny Lawrence.

The girls, or just one is a part the reason that led Ms. LaRusso’s down her spiral of bad decisions. But reason why she did so was because of her desire to leave the shadow of her famous father. But this influence she made to her person outside her family who was connected to the real her, Aisha, utterly useless .

This desire causes her to date super popular boy, honestly who wouldn’t to be liked, I surely do half the times. But after seeing his true color and avoiding an attack, the boy by humiliating her, made her seem like she’s not something, just like her friend.

But Miguel Diaz, a new kid that Sam barely knew and cared for, stood for her honor and punish this boy. Being a decent person she tries to be and clearly does a good man, Sam is willingly to give Miguel a chance in love.

But tension raises as when she finds out that Miguel is  a student of her father’s old enemy, making her and Miguel’s relationship like Romeo and Juliet. But not speaking up about her role in Johnny Lawrence’s car incident, Sam loses her device privilege for some time.

The someone new came into her life, another nice boy, named Robby Keene. They quickly became friends, but since she couldn’t commune with Miguel, her friendship with Robby turned into something that looks more intimate, romantically intimate.

But when she been caught with this romantic looking friendship by her boyfriend, he got mad. He was understandably mad, but Sam never thought her and Robby have anything romantic between them.

Sam still feels guilt for the two people she hurt, she tries her best to fix it, but the damage has been done, Robby has been hurt by Miguel. I don’t know why she went into karate maybe she use it as a coping mech or whatever

Season 2:

Sam: 

After a while of trying, Sam wasn’t able to get Miguel explain her and Robby’s relationship. But during this time, their friendship developed into something more, the even were able to do the wheel technique together. When the chance came for her to get back her old friend, Aisha, she got it. But then that quickly diminishes, when she meets her new friend, Tory Nichols, who has mean girl demeanor and stole a bottle of vodka. When she found out her mom’s wallet was missing, Sam already knew someone that would that. She confronted, but got humiliated.  Even though, Tory didn’t  steal her mom’s wallet, Tory’s demeanor still was enough for Sam distrust her. But before her chance was diminished by her feelings of Tory, Aisha planted seeds of her and Robby’s relationship which cause her to sees him in the same way she saw Miguel possibly even more. Then found themselves close the felt each other.

But when she went on a date with Robby, she saw the boy she still loved with girl who she can’t the shake of the feelings of trouble off of. And after she antagonized her enough, Sam decided to take revenge on her.

At the party, Sam was probably willing to have a fun time with Robby and co, until she saw Tory with Miguel. Her distrust and along with her jealousy, made her unwilling to let her bully-looking ass intimidate her, so she was willing to challenge her in a drinking contest, knowing she’s more balanced than her. And since she was, she was able to beat her, and gained some glory.

She would’ve probably be into the drinking after beating Tory in it. This happen to where she doesn’t think she needs Robby with her. Then Aisha admitted the truth about what Miguel did by returning the medal of Miyagi.

This action, and along with her undealt feelings for Miguel, She approached him. And with the drugs she was on, she loss herself and kissed Miguel.

But since she still does care about Robby, she felt guilt for kissing Miguel, But she wasn’t able to tell due to fleeing away from the cops, being drunk, and her dad getting her out of Johnny’s apartment.

On the first day of school, Sam tries to tell Robby about what she did, but she couldn’t. Then both things that was on Sam’s mind came out real quick. 1. The Cheating and 2. Her thoughts on Tory. She was hesitant due to her been afraid of what she’d seen in Tory this whole time. 

But when Tory physically cut her open, she beat her up in order to survive. Soon afterwards, she witnessed the love of her life fall to his death caused by the other boy that she genuinely cared about as well.

Despite the fight being over, she was left with the pain that was caused by the girl that she knew who was dangerous and the guilt of her mistake affecting not just her life, but the lives of the boys she loved.

Tory:

Tory Nichols enters the scene showing her badass credential by challenging Cobra Kai champion, Miguel Diaz. There, she showed herself to be a natural tough fighter.

When she found herself hanging out  with the other girl in her dojo, Aisha Robinson, she opened up to her about her  best friend Sam, who wasn’t the best to her. And when she met the said friend Sam, she probably already heard so much shit about her.

Then Sam shows her pain in the butt attitude causing her to think that Sam some kind of “saint”. But when Sam accused her for her stealing her mom’s wallet, she really believed she’s an entitled little brat. When she grabbed her, this reinforced the entitlement, and made her pushed Sam down.

After trying to flirt with Miguel, he was trying to win the affection of his ex, When Tory found out it was Sam. She think that she wasn’t worth it due to what she heard from Aisha. And gets the idea for them to date, because she liked him and she could teach this little brat a lesson.

When Tory tells Miguel about her mom and how the fortune people were horrible to her this was a big part of her character. Both Aisha and Miguel had been wronged by a fortune person  which she could sympathize with. And Miguel was an immigrant, she could understand that struggle too. This also ties Kreese’s speech how, if one person goes down, the rest of you do, since they could share experience with each other.

While on the date with Miguel, she runs into Sam and her date. She started to mess with the entitled brat. But when it looks like Sam’s trying to play with Miguel’s heart or be selfish, Tory retaliated by knocking her down. Sam got an easy revenge by doing the same thing. This got her a consequence which pleads Tory.

At the party, Sam challenged her to the drinking contest which she was an expert in. When she seemed unphased by vodka this shocked her. This causes Tory to lose her balance and lose. Since the brat won, she was angry.

Later on, Tory witnessed Sam kissing Miguel confirming to her that Sam is really a player.

With all the times that Sam was “better” than her, Tory decided to punish the brat for her actions with the people around her.

But sadly, her anger caused the only person she loved to fall to his death.

Season 3:

Sam:

Months after the school fight, Sam was living the trauma of the fight, and with physical reminder for it. And after months of recovery she believed she was ready to go back.

But when she did got the memories of what happened, she’s shamed for being a victim in an assault for something that wasn’t entirely her fault. She’s also living with the guilt of where this all left both important boys in her life. She try to relentlessly check on Robby to make sure he’s alright.

And when Miguel woke up, she tries to amends with him and help him get helping with raising money for his surgery.

When Cobra Kai was antagonizing her fellow students, since she knows what  it’s like to have Cobra Kai  antagonize her, she steps in for them. Any kind of antagonizing behaviors they show, Sam will be there to counteract that, even if that gets her in trouble.

And when she did, she decided to antagonize them to show they can’t just do that to them. But when Tory showed up, the face of her fears was coming, causing her to go into flight mode.

But sadly, she let her friend, Demetri get his arm broken, and since she could’ve done something, but didn’t she at least felt guilt for that. 

This guilt along with her role in everything causes her to have some nightmare of Tory coming over to her safe place, blaming and beating the shit out of her for the role she had, saying it’s all on her. Then attempted to drown her.

When she wakes up she comes to the realization that she isn’t good for her anymore.

Her father tries to help built her up, but she found that useless. But after finding out her father was in her shoes once before with another cobra kai and getting the good of karate back in her, she felt much better with it again.

When she sees Miguel all better, she decided to have a fresh start with him and have redo by on their relationship before the trouble came in. And when they saw unlike couple of Demetri and Yasmine, they saw more of a chance in them.

And after, they worked together to restate the all-valley tournament, they had a moment. This similar moment with her and Robby, but unlike that, she had fully realized her feelings for Miguel and they made a move.

But then Robby came in and made her realize she just betrayed his love too. But hopes of Robby being sensible seemingly low, Sam didn’t reach out to him anymore and focused on her and Miguel.

Miyagi-Do and Eagle-Fang were getting together, Sam able to them together due to her knowing they both hate Cobra Kai now and to stop it.

When Tory confronts her again, the face of her fears was back which causes her to flee. But when she confronted her in her dojo, she had no where to run. With what she learned from her father about fear, Sam was able to face her fear and overcome Tory again.

Tory:

After the fight she started, Tory was expelled from school, was put on probation, doesn’t pay for the dojo, and was low at making money.

Adding more salt to the wound, she has to deal with a sexual predator in the form of  her landlord, but the worse part of about it, he has both financial and lawful power over her, leaving her with no way to defend herself without facing more consequences.

Then Kreese came in and made her a lot better by solving two problems, he got rid of landlord and getting her back into the dojo.

When she found out Miyagi-Do, more specifically Sam was at the arcade, she found another chance to try to punish her again for everything she had done especially after the fight. Even when she didn’t show, this made Tory believe that wasn’t bold enough to fight and chickening to her mom reinforced the spoil brat image she seen in Sam. When Hawk and Tory were talking about getting revenge on Miyagi-Do for getting Miguel involved, Tory showed signs of guilt, but hides it from Hawk who questioned if she had seen him yet. Later that day, she ran into a wheelchair bounded Miguel while going to work. She told him she’s now working two job. 

She tried to apologize to him for not showing up, she explained she really didn’t mean for him to be like he is now. But she and the other will get back at the Miyagi-Do for him.  She uses the line Kreese said, “if one man goes down, so do the rest too”.

But Miguel points out that he’s the only one that’s down. She tried clarifying herself, but Miguel said he understood. He explained he only cared about her during that time and nothing else. Based him and Sam, Tory questioned if he wanted to use her to make Sam jealous. And admit she witnessed their kiss. 

She felt justified over that. Miguel stated he understood and implied she needed psychological help, which she didn’t because her mentality doesn’t matter  and that only that people were wrong get what they deserved, and that Miguel is Sam’s. When she sees Sam’s ex Robby again, she wasn’t happy. She blames him along with everyone, including herself too. Then she helped his anger about Miguel and Sam by channeling it into his fighting. But after the finding a cobra test, she was impressed by Robby’s confidence.

With guidance from Kreese, Tory breaks into the LaRusso household to settle her score with Sam. With Miguel with Sam, she’s enable to listen to him. All that mattered to her was settling the score with Sam. Even when she loses, she was still angry that the brat won again. But she was still determine to get back at her.

Season 4:

Sam:

After the intense fight with Tory, a few months ago, Sam, her dad, and co had officially joined force with Miguel, Johnny, and Eagle-Fang.

Although she’s with Miguel, she still cares about Robby and tries talk to with him. Another way she still cared him about is admitting she went the skate park everyday back then for him to show up. She was angry at Robby for what he did. Which causes Robby to bring up her and Miguel. Sam tries to explain her thoughts at the time.

But Robby didn’t care and told her that she made a choice. But she knew Robby is much better than her, and try to use that fact to make him choose to go back to Miyagi-Do. But Robby brings up a major flaw of her’s, she believe she can get whatever she wants.

When she and the Miyagi-do students were being taught by Johnny for the day,  Johnny wanted them to free run jump off one building to another.

Sam was understandably afraid, she might fall to her death or cripple herself, plus her dad wouldn’t want that. This led into a mini argument with Johnny about their past mistakes and what’s the difference between were. Sam is still young while Johnny was in his 50s  Johnny showed sympathy to Sam about having by your parents, but he now he’s something he likes.

After mix of that conversation from her dad, she developed the confident to jump across the building, soaring an eagle for the first time, being herself more now.  After some time learning Johnny’s style of karate, Sam finally strong again.

With the ideal of Johnny, striking first, Sam gets a little payback at Tory for all the time she hurt her. But to no avail. 

Then her dad forbid her from using Eagle-Fang, she is the first-step of feelings helpless and restricted to her.

After Hawk got jumped and his  hair shaved, she goes to same instinct, to back to up them,

But then soon after, she found Tory getting help from her parents, making her betrayed and more restricted in her life. Brings up how unfair it is that her allowed to do the same while she can’t 

With her life getting out of her control, she starts turning to the only person that she could trust, Aisha.

Aisha gave her advice make, to the first move and set her terms. Since Sam was trying to get into get control of her again, she made the move and threated to Tory.

When her pointed out her cycle of love interest and general mess of that, she promised deal with aspect of her life.

Her trying to take control of her life again clouded her judgement on Tory, and it’s 180 to her, Tory seem insincere.

At the junior prom, she was trying to forget it all, forget the drama that happened from the past year. But then the two biggest thought of her life came back, but worse, Tory with Robby. 

Seeing Tory with Robby triggered her jealousy, trauma, guilt, and lack of control.

During the after party, Tory was acting like she didn’t mess her up real bad. These feelings in Sam overflows and causes her to lash out.

Her and Miguel got into a fight with Robby and Tory which ruined her and Miguel’s night. With all the emotions she feels, she felt hurt that Miguel blamed her for everything going on.

During the all-valley, when Sam was fighting someone that knows her moves she decided to use Eagle-Fang. The best thing to counter that mimicry. But this get reprimanded by Daniel.  Sam fought Tory, she was ready to win again. Even she got the approval to do her own thing. She made the Miyagi-Fang style. But somehow, despite all efforts, she loss. She felt like she failed.

Tory:

After losing to the brat again, Tory is angered than ever before. Tory express to Robby a reason she dislike Sam, because she believed Sam could have  everything she wanted, because it does happen a lot in their conflict.

When Robby challenges the whole dojo, she wasn’t willing to let him win, but after showing his strength, she let him stay. 

During work, she met Amanda LaRusso who gives her an ultimatum, to stay away from her daughter or she’ll go to prison for life. Tory tried to say something about it, but couldn’t knowing this couldn’t end well for her, losing everything right there.

But still knowing what she knows about people like Amanda and not wanting to do this during work, she tried to not let her push her around But with the annoyance of a customer asking for his food, she lashed out at him. Due to having a history of lashing out, this was the last straw for her boss to fire her. Since Amanda played a role in this, Tory blames her for making her angry and expresses her anger by admitting all her deep thought on the workplace.

At practice when she got tripped by Robby, it adds on her frustration what happened earlier. When Kreese tried to ask her, she refused at, but knowing what kind of person she knows he is. She admits why she’s angry.

When she found the bag of food that Amanda gave her. She got angry for her potentially fake sympathy, even with her explanation. She uses this fuel to her anger about Sam.

Despite her anger and frustration, Tory found another job as a children  entertainer. It might’ve been humiliating especially with Sam around, but she was knew it necessary for her life situation. Then Sam came over and was being girl that she knew she was. But due to everything she done, Tory had decided to stay calm and in character. Even when she brought things that were personal to her. But her belittling Tory was enough for a little payback. Knowing she can’t attack at the place, she gets tame way, by having the children throw glitter on her, getting good payback. But, when Sam kissed Miguel, this triggered her frustration, jealous, and anger that  she felt that night. This was enough fpr her quit the job. But, then Amanda apologizes and explains Sam’s behavior. She was full anger. Amanda tries to tell her to look for help, but she believes she could handle this. But Amanda just tells her to try, Tory didn’t react to that though.

At the movie drive in, Tory was still thinking about everything, when Robby checked on her, she tell about that she been having bad day, but, Robby respect her if she didn’t want to tell. Some time later, she gets a visit her aunt Kandace,   who was trying scam her.  But Tory was seemingly fully aware of her tricks and her games learn them from her. When Kandace was talking about her mother’s illness and taking custody of Brandon, she greatly offended Tory and caused her try to hit her. But she pull the fact that she has nobody to help her not even her dad, just her. Tory knows that Kandace doesn’t care about them. But she pulls the fact that her record will not make her look worthy for custody over Brandon. This leaves Tory to realize Amanda is right about needing help and realized what her action cost her. Later that day, Tory went to the LaRusso wanting help to get back into school, so she could finish and get her G.E.D. With knowing she what did at least wasn’t right for her and her situation Tory promises to stay away from Sam. But Amanda tell her to go to therapy, to have someone outside karate to talk about her issues. When she went back to school and saw Sam, She hesitant, but she was thankful for helping her get back in. This is unknown would’ve gone well, made Tory less of everyone around and including.  After spending so much time with Robby, something sparked between them. And when junior prom was rolling around, tension between them really came up, Robby suggested that she should go to mess with Sam and Miguel since that was the lesson of the day. And she suggested that they should do it together.

When they got there, they were ready to give Miguel and Sam a performance they will remember. But slowly the thought messing with Sam had started to fade from Tory’s mind. It was replaced with the thought of her actually being with Robby. As dance continues she confess to Robby about how she realized her what she desire, is to have something she could be proud of herself for, that she earned something in her life.

During  the afterparty, she was probably having the night of her life.  So such she seem to be nice to Sam for a little bit, keeping the promise that she made to Amanda. But since Sam was still the same person, she doesn’t let her boss her around.

Then Sam strikes first, and since Sam is the attacker, Tory has a reason to fight back. Then Miguel comes and carries her, but they fall to the ground. She reminisce for a second about their time together, but since everything that happened, she doesn’t linger on it, and goes back to fighting. When it seem Sam was messing with Robby’s heart now, Tory swept her legs. Since they’re together now, they work together to take on Miguel and Sam. But that didn’t thing, since Robby accidently shoves the couple and Tory into the pool. With the excitement that happens around them after the fall in, Tory playfully  pulls Robby into the pool making there night fun. After all that, Tory and Robby were enjoying the fun that they had at the party, and their night in general. That combine wit there closeness, they shared a kiss and a night together. During the all-valley, when Sam showed more offense to Tory while in her other fights, which caught her guard off. When getting some convo and advice from Amanda and we know that her therapy is really help explain her current self.  When she was ready wish to Sam, she was hesitant, not wanting to disrespect Amanda’s wishes, but Kreese assured that her could do it.

When Sam and her fought, she was really trying to hold back her hard side. But after Sam shows her aggressiveness, Tory was conflicted on what to do. Silver tells her to amp it up, which she did, getting her the point. When Sam strikes back with an unfamiliar style that got her the edge. Despite that all, Tory tries her best to hang into the fight. But while doing so, she accidently used an illegal move on Sam, which she knew wasn’t right.  When Silver tells her harm Sam more, she knew that isn’t going to be any good in this fight. But Kreese tells her to do whatever she wants. With this in mind, Tory was able to overcome Sam fairly. After her victory, she attempted to make amends with Sam by checking on her, but she got swept away by the glory of winning the all-valley. When Tory thought she has finally earned something in her life, it was quickly shattered by her stumbling into Silver paying the ref to rig the fights. She walks away in shame knowing she didn’t actually win.

Season 5:

Sam:

Some time after Sam’s big loss, Sam still has feelings of guilt of letting everyone down. She blaming herself getting Miyagi-do shut down. And she’s been replaying her fight with Tory, but since her guilt was so much and since it already happen, she loses every time.

When Miguel called, she rationally explain how what he’s doing is a bad idea. With having Miguel to about happened, she felt in little neglected by him, but Miguel brushes her issues aside, making her feel alone in this.

This sent Sam in a bit numbing mood and Anthony telling about his problem which is karate was leading to her wanting get away from it all more now. 

After getting text from Miguel, Sam was hesitant after the last time they talked. But with some advice from Moon and Yasmine she was confident enough to suggest them having a talk. At the Spa, Sam tries out a sensory deprivation tank, while she was in there. She was visualizing every issues in her life in the past couple years. Her being in a shadow of her father, her tournament loss, her public image, guilt on hurting Robby, and her tough relationship with Miguel. This all spiral down into what sounds like Tory, but she was really her, or the her that caused all this. 

Sam started to battle with the twisted side of herself,  but got it cut short by Moon. Sam was shaken up by her experience.

Still being shaken up by her vision, she decided to remove one of her problems, her struggling relationship with Miguel, by breaking up with him.

With her break-up with Miguel, Sam had felt  a little relief for problem, but since they’re still friends and their own friends are dating, she still kinda has to see him. While in Ohio, she found out her brother is being terrorized by Cobra Kai, she decided to step in by teaching him ways to defend himself.

When her dad got hurt physically and mentally, she decided to step back in to help him. When her dad reopened, she was there, ready for the fights.

While learning from Chozen, Sam rekindled her friendship with Robby. When her and Miguel found out, Miguel brought up the fact about her being back in karate. Which she has again remembered what it had meant to her. And hearing him and Robby are closer, this made her guilt on what happened to them dissolve.

When getting ready for the Sekkai Tekkai qualifier match, Sam was little hesitant, but her new sensei, Chozen was able relate about feeling like you needed to be better, he convinced her to fight for the people she cares for.

Then she found an octopus necklace by the dojo and was immediately able to put together that it was Miguel’s. During the match, she was ready to fight Tory, but when she disappeared, She had to fight Devon Lee instead. She was dominating Devon, but the ref was making her lose every time which gets to her head. But after encouragement from her team, she was able to overcome these calls and fairly beat Devon. Sam has finally won and she’s very happy about it.When Sam arrived at the party, she was ready to reconnect with Miguel, her hopes to do so was shattered when she saw him making out with another girl. She flees. She tries to go home, but Tory came and told her the truth.This made Sam angry, since her holding this info cause all the events that happened after the tournament. Next day, Sam is still struggling with this information causing her to be judgmental and hostile.

After just not getting the results she wanted from Stingray, Sam was very frustrated and leaves, but as she’s doing so, Miguel questioned everything that been happening in their lives with her. Especially with what happened last night. Sam admitted how much hell this was that came from a lie, she blames herself for not knowing, she blames Tory for not telling her until now. But Miguel gave a perspective with what effects Cobra Kai can have on its students.

With this perspective in mind, Sam decided to talk to Tory for information. After seeing her living environment, her broken hand, hearing the struggles she went through in the dojo, this made Sam realize Tory herself is a victim of Cobra Kai.

With this in mind, Sam decided to finally shut down Cobra Kai. After it was all over, Sam’s life was nearly completed, she and Miguel finally admitted they loved each other, and they kissed.

Tory:

After finding out what happened, Tory was hesitant to go back to the dojo, but knew she had to.

When she questioned as champion by a potential sensei “Joe”, she reluctantly answered the question yes. 

Tory’s mind wasn’t fully into the training which doesn’t go unnoticed by Joe. Joe questioned why she isn’t giving an effort into training, possibly not wanting to train anymore. But Tory’s core motive for karate is to be strong. Then she questioned Joe on why he wanted to be a sensei. He told her his motive was honor. This confused her a bit, but he explained his loss of honor and how he realized it was a self thing. Then he told her that she could do the same. Tory realized this could mean about her as a fighter and person.

The he told her, if she break free of her problem, she must face them. Knowing what to do, Tory was able to now focus on training.

Later, she took Sensei Joe’s advice, to confront her “problem” aka Terry Silver, by confronting him about the cheating. But when Terry promised a good future for her, she couldn’t that pass that up.

At home, Tory looks at her trophy knowing she didn’t deserve it, but she went on display it in fear of Silver.

With no one to really confide in, Tory turns the only person she could rely, Kreese. They came with a plan for her to find out what she can and report back to him.

When Robby came back to leave and asked her, she knew wouldn’t work, because she needs to get info on Silver.

But after Daniel got hurt, Tory felt a mix of guilt making him a part of this, lying to everyone, especially Robby, deceiving people with mysterious notes, letting Silver expand his dojos. But when she told this to Kreese, she was very thrown off on how inconsiderate he was.

When Tory and the senseis took over Topanga Karate, she ended up teaching Devon. She was confused by her combative behaviors, but she brought her late mother dying from illness, she was to able to sympathize with her. 

When the senseis made her fight Devon, she tried to go easy on her, but Sensei  Kim made her go harder. But every time she did, she felt sorry for hurting this poor girl who just want to live up to her mother’s words.

When Devon joined Cobra Kai, Tory was worried for what Cobra might do her.

Training with Kim and Devon, Tory tries to set a good example to Devon, but to no avail. When Devon questioned how she defended her, Tory just express showing how that’s a good leader.

When the Sekkai Taikai came around, and finding out the effects of these events, Tory asked for advice on what to do. But Kreese just refuse to help her, the image of what Tory thought had shattered. She realized this betrayal, led to the belief that she has nobody.

When she found out the match was rigged again, Tory isn’t willingly to feel like faker again and leave the dojo.

After both dojo got into the Sekkai Talkai, Tory was finally decided to come clean to Sam about the cheating. But with Sam not giving her a chance, Tory feels like she had nothing but Cobra Kai as a place to go.

When Robby showed up and  tried to convince the students to see who Silver as the terrible man he is. Tory struggled to hide with the guilt of not listening to Robby and not showing her agreement of the argument of fear out of getting found out.

After the training for the day, Tory was ask to stay back and punch a solid dummy. With no way out, Tory risk breaking her hand in order to avoid further punishment.

But when Kim was tormenting her with her love for Robby, this anger her and try to hit her, but hit the stone instead. This sent Tory to the ground in fear, pain, and regret.

When Tory was icing her hand, the most unexpected visit happened from the person she wouldn’t expect to see her, Sam. Tory already knows how Sam feels about this, so she tried to push her away, but when Sam told her, she wants to talk. Tory hesitantly let her in. There, she let of all her pain, guilt, regret, fear, feeling of being a fraud, and her disappointment to Sam.  But when Sam told her about Stingray, she realized what chances they have.

Despite her feelings and her injured hand, Tory put taking Cobra Kai down above all those things. She tries reason to why the other Cobra on how used they are. She also tried to apologize Devon for deceiving her. 

After the defeat of Silver, Tory and Robby get back together, Tory wanted to have the good things first, before going into the difficult ones.

Conclusion:

Sam and Tory are very flawed characters, but have very strong redeeming qualities to them. Sam is a drama magnet, but deep down she’s just trying to be a decent person, who struggles with life. Tory is a girl with very deep psychological issues due to her past. But deep down she’s a very strong, caring, hard working, and sweet person.

[witchofhimring]

Hi there, this is my first time commenting to an author so please bear with me. 😂

First off, I want to say that I really enjoy your stories and your "Loyalty" story is such a gripping tale. I'm very much invested in this story and it's characters. My heart absolutely goes out to and breaks for our Lady Lannister for all the ordeals she has gone through and will face later on, no doubt 😲. Your writing is just vibrant and brilliant in riling up the anger, despair, anxiousness and rage we would feel for our girl. I'm absolutely seething towards those who have wronged her *cough* the Mad Stag Princess Ellyn🦌 *cough*🤣. But it just shows that your writing is bang on the money in invoking emotions from us for your characters and stories. ✨📖🐲🌹🦁💚🖤🔥

On a side note, I'm wondering if I can ask your opinion on some observations/ theory's I have on Aemond, if that is alright? Feel free to let me know what you think or not, for no spoilers.🤣 🤫 🚫🚫 🙊 🙊

🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹Firstly, like everyone who's following Lady Lannister's tale, Aemond has shown to be a truly disappointing friend to her when she needs it most. And while I understand that it's his 'duty' to stand by his wife and be a loyal husband to her, I find it difficult to see if he's really at all blind, or turning the other check towards Ellyn's cruel nature towards Lady L. Or could he have developed some sort of feelings of fondness for Ellyn, like with Lady L and Jason at the begining off her marriage?

In chapter 9 & 10, his interaction and attitude with Lady L both frustrated and intrigued me. After Lady Lannister gave Ellyn a good slap back and Aemond completely ripped into her (even when our Lady suffered the most humiliation and cruelty from Ellyn from rumors alone). Duty aside, while Aemond and Ellyn were trying for an heir, could it be that Aemond actually wanted to be a father but either Ellyn just couldn't get pregnant or may have had an early loss in the term (maybe between Lady Lannister's wedding and arriving at Harrenhal). It could explain why he was furious and hurt with Lady L's words to Ellyn? The reason I came to this observation was when we find him holding Eoin in Chapter 10.

I personally feel that there is a connection between Aemond and Lady L on the negative aspects, as while one of our girls hindering traits is her blind Loyalty, Aemond's is he is blind Duty.

I understand that you intend to compose a chapter based on Aemond's perspectives of these events, but I just wanted to put my thoughts out to you and see what you may think of them. Sorry for the long rant. I hope this was an interesting read. I'd really love to have your opinion on these thoughts.

🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

Final note, keep on dreaming and brainstorming those stories we love and looking forward to the next few chapters. Take care and thank you.💕 😘 📚 📖 🐲

Me when I see questions in my Inbox:

I am delighted that my anger has inspired such strong emotions! I was actually pretty angry at Ellyn myself when I wrote her. Your words are truly the highest form of praise an author can receive! 💕

You and anyone else are welcome to ask any question regarding Loyalty, I am happy to answer! And do not worry I will be careful not to give out any spoilers.🤫

Aemond and Ellyn's relationship: Aemond did become fond of Ellyn during their marriage. Not in love with her, nor was she in love with him, but a partnership is formed. The Ellyn that Y/n knows is not the Ellyn that Aemond knows. She is capable of being kind (just not to reader😅). As to whether or not Aemond was aware of Ellyn's behavior towards Y/n, he is aware of it to a degree. During this time Aemond is dealing with a war and the aftermath of killing Lucerys so his attention on familial conflicts is limited. So why does he not do anything about it? It is because Ellyn is his wife and he worries that any tension between him and Ellyn could result in political fractions between House Baratheon and the Greens.

His interactions with the reader in chapters 9 & 10 are really frustrating. The reason he puts most of the responsibility on the reader is because of Ellyn's mental state and Aemond feeling more comfortable with the reader. Sometimes when we are comfortable with someone then we treat them with more carelessness. We are so used to their presence that we can forget they might not always remain with us. He still views her still as the little girl he once knew. As to Ellyn and Aemond not having a child that is more down to stress and Aemond being away much of the time. Ellyn is not naturally infertile nor did she suffer a loss. She was also sick at Harrenhal which made it harder to become pregnant.

Aemond and Y/n's negative aspects: You are absolutely right about Aemond and Y/n. While loyalty can be a positive it can carry negative traits. Our loyalty can cause us to be blind to certain aspects of those who we are loyal to. Y/n follows Aemond and his side of the family without considering the moral implications. An example can be her attitudes towards Lucerys and Rhaenyra. Y/n's loyalty will lead her into many situations, some good, some bad. Aemond's loyalty is another example of how loyalty can be toxic. His loyalty to duty makes him blind to the treatment of Y/n at Ellyn's hand. Loyalty can be good, but also toxic.

Lastly, thank you so much for the questions! I was so excited when I saw this in my Inbox! And I will continue to write and brainstorm😁. Happy reading!💕📖

[lunasglow]

1. Fabien himself has stated that cole hates himself because he should have been there to protect Helaena. It’s also such an interesting contrast when there’s characters like Erryk, who do care about what their white cloak symbolizes, actually does his duty by not harming anyone in the royal family and ultimately dies against his own brother to stay true to his oaths. Then there’s Cole who leaves his post to be used by Alicent (someone who has used her title as queen and his feelings for her to have him to do what she wants) for pleasure after targeting Rhaenyra and her sons because she wouldn’t go sell oranges with him. Actually, I think you should be a little grateful that the actors and directors interpreted them as lovers when it’s sourced from a dynamic between a child and an adult with the canon line: "Ser Criston protects the princess from her enemies, but who protects the princess from Ser Criston?"

2. Nothing will change the fact that Alicent has humiliated and hurt Rhaenyra for years, her undue vitriol peddled by her belief that “honor and decency” will prevail against her. She’s taken her children from her, humiliated her on the small council, even stabbed her after her monologue about duty and sacrifice. She’s a hypocrite, and in more ways than one. She works with and protects two murderers (Cole and Larys) and has a hush money routine for her rapist son. Not only that, her vitriol against Rhaenyra is just unjustifiable. Anger that should be reserved for Otto and Viserys is directed towards her instead, someone utterly irrelevant as to why she is unhappy. Calling her a hypocrite is not misogynistic when it’s a baseline truth of who she is as a character, especially when she made Rhaenyra the target of her resentment for years only to backtrack on her own standards. Also, I’ve always been very critical of how the writers have adapted Rhaenyra and Alicent. Coming to terms with the new development but also hating the fact that it was written at all for her show arc are two different matters.

3. you think that men and women are held up to the same moral standards, which is a crazy conclusion to come up with after watching HotD, let alone reading fire and blood. I hardly trust your perception of reality on that fact alone. Contrast after contrast is made between Rhaenyra and the greens. Like the fact that Aegon is considered a worthy claimant despite being a rapist and a drunk, or the fact that Rhaenyras bastards sons were more honorable and beloved than their trueborn counterparts. Your biggest takeaway from this story is that women suffering is good because it’s what’s expected for them to do, and Rhaenyra is bad because she didn’t suffer enough by your standards. Or that having bastards is the worst thing to happen when Aegon leaves his own to rot in poverty. It’s little wonder that you haven’t worked yourself towards the fact that GRRM is criticizing that system that holds women to higher standards/demonizes bastards. An integral theme of many of GRRMs storylines is this status quo is both wrong and often meaningless because of its double standards.

I’d say more, but it’s Sunday! Have fun with your one sided stalking sprees, btw!

HotD presents two individuals who suffer at the hand of the same patriarchal system set to make them suffer when they rebel (Rhaenyra) AND when they're complacent (Alicent). That is the central issue and the tragedy of Alicent's unjust & now hypocritical vitriol towards Rhaenyra.

"Rhaenyra the entitled whore, Alicent the deserving saint" is not only a repulsive mindset and textbook misogyny, it's also so far removed from the point being made by making them parallels in this adaptation. People who buy into it are simply not interacting with the core themes of the story.

[aminiatureworld]

Opposites

Characters: Xiao, gn!reader

Word Count: 1,594

Warnings: Swearing

Premise: In which the reader is the brain and Xiao is the brawn

Author’s Note: I wasn’t sure what the general setting should be so I put it in a vaguely college/university setting. Prolly cause that’s around my age and also because I cordially dislike highschool AUs. Hopefully that works out alright!

I had to type out almost 2,000 words on my iphone. I never want to do that again.

Xiao

Honestly none of your friends are actually sure how you two got together.

After all, if someone were to take a picture of you and your partner side-by-side then show it to people not in the know, well the prevailing emotion would be something along the lines of: “Are they classmates or neighbors or something?”

To be fair, when the two of your first met even the idea that you would ever end up in love was something laughable. Having been pushed together for a project, your knee-jerk reaction had been: Oh I’m totally going to end up doing this all by myself.

Thankfully however you’d been quickly proven wrong. Although Xiao hadn’t necessarily been the best about planning and other such things, his work was organized and he always showed up to every meeting with his parts completed.

By the end of the project you never wanted to work with another person on a group project again.

And, to be completely honest, you’d definitely developed a crush on your slightly aloof group partner.

Xiao’s reaction was much harder to read.

At first he appeared to want nothing to do with you. Work was emailed to you with not so much as a subject line; meetups passed in awkward silence broken by tentative questions on your part. You’d sort of assumed that he saw you as annoying and the group work as useless - which to be fair it sort of was useless.

So when he emailed you a few weeks later asking for your number and if you wanted to do something, well, safe to say you almost fell out of your chair.

Though the start was a little awkward, Xiao’s conversational nature didn’t develop much in general, you two fell into a routine of sorts, a relationship of unspoken boundaries and spontaneous confidences.

During the first few weeks of you odd sort of relationship you’d come to the conclusion that, though not a talker, Xiao was ultimately quite apathetic in nature. Eventually however you realized apathetic wasn’t the right term.

Though he might’ve appeared sullen on the outside, Xiao never actually acted in a way that hinted at any resentment or irritation; he never dragged his feet about something or implied it was stupid that you should ask for help or for a favor.

His assertiveness, which might’ve been mistaken for aloofness, was endearing. Xiao never half-asses anything, even when if wasn’t doing something for another person, like you.

You appreciated this side of his personality, the fact that he was quick to act, admired if even. It certainly stood in stark contrast to your tendency to overthink things, something that could quickly end up kneecapping you depending on what decisions were being debated.

It was an alien concept to you, the sort of philosophy Xiao seemed to live by, and its novelty was refreshing.

As your thoughts slid more and more to focusing on Xiao you became more and more aware of the rumors that abounded about him.

He was a troubled youth, he was prone to fighting, he had been so uncontrollable in secondary school that only one teacher had been able to get him to do anything. The only times he spoke was to wound, and he never had a word to say that wasn’t angry.

Well, obviously that wasn’t the truth, but any attempt to clear up the situation was quickly met with odd stares and responses that all smacked of: “Oh you poor idiot, you just haven’t learned yet.”

You would’ve liked to think that you didn’t let it affect your relationship with him, but evidently the rumors had begun to catch up to you.

“Hey, you’ve been avoiding me.”

“Have I?” You shifted awkwardly in your seat. Xiao sighed, evidently aware of where this was going.

“It’s because of what people say about me, isn’t it?”

“Maybe.”

“I see.”

That had been the beginning and the end of the conversation for quite some time, almost as if Xiao had yet to decide whether or not you were one of the few in whom he could entrust the truth. Yet despite the rumors and the odd looks you still found yourself gravitating towards Xiao, and soon enough that initial pull turned into something much deeper.

The day that you two became “official” was the day Xiao told you the truth. He had been a delinquent as a teenager.

Born into a family full of troubles Xiao shouldered the circumstances as best he could.

However things cannot stay untouched forever; the distress that Xiao experienced only grew, the pressure ratcheting up with every incident, every item thrown to the ground, every fight that ended in humiliating pain.

Eventually it became too much, and when it did Xiao took his anger out not on his family, not on the people who had failed him, but on any classmate who antagonized the vulnerable child.

Fights became a regular part of Xiao’s life until university, and it was only in meeting his mentor, Zhongli, that the lost young man had managed to pull his life together.

Things made more sense after that, though one couldn’t say that everything was right with the world. Students, coworkers, the particularly idiotic TA, all of them still carried the sense that Xiao was not to be trusted. You could see how it upset your partner sometimes, when he was ignored at the coffeeshop or excluded from class group chars in the like.

Whenever he did that Xiao tended to retreat into himself, as if worried he might explode again. It took a lot of coaxing to get him out of such situations but it was always worth it to see your partner’s expression soften, to see his small smile once more.

What you didn’t tell him was that you were just as angry as he was, just as resentful at the people within your major which were hellbent on acting like they were still in high school.

Eventually however the trials of your early were utterly forgotten, the questions and the secrets replaced by a sense of slightly hilarious domestic bliss.

You were definitely the brains of the group, something Xiao didn’t seem to mind - though he probably would find that actual statement somewhat silly.

Xiao, on the other hand, held the esteemed position of Person Who Actually Got Stuff Done. You relied on him to get you out of your mental spirals, to pull you out of your room and out of your brain fog and to get you to do something; even if it wasn’t the thing you were thinking about.

In return it was your job to make sure Xiao didn’t get himself killed doing something stupid.

Xiao’s reticence masked an almost supernatural recklessness. Though your partner didn’t own a motorbike, if he had you were completely convinced he’d ride one without a helmet. His almost total disinterest in his own safety was something that you brain shrunk from, and more often than not a crazy plan of his would end with you listing the terrible things that might happen if something were to go wrong, even if those things weren’t always the most realistic.

There was a storm in twenty minutes? It was the perfect time for a walk! There was cavern nearby with tunnels were so tight you had to walk single file? Sure why not!

He would talk about such things as if there was nothing to it, as if it didn’t send your heart rate spiking. There wasn’t the slightest acknowledgment of danger. Even his tone was as gruff as usual, as if it was the most natural thing to want to go mountain climbing, not interesting enough to get even a little excited about.

It was probably good he did martial arts. You didn’t even want to think about where all that energy would go otherwise.

Xiao’s straightforward nature came out in softer ways too, ways that you envied much more than his full-steam-ahead recklessness.

He was never afraid to state what was on his mind. Whether it was correcting a waiter who got his order wrong or telling a rude doormats to fuck off, all these things were natural to him.

To be honest you completely envied that aspect of him, unable go replicate such a mindset in yourself.

When you’d commented on it once Xiao had stared oddly at you. After a moment he told you that he figured it came from his background. Sometimes you had to learn how to say “no” or “that’s wrong” or “you’re a shitty person.”

Just as you tried to curb the most extreme parts of Xiao’s recklessness, so too did Xiao work to bring you out of the spirals your mind went down sometimes, and so did he try to coax you out of the overthinking that kept you from asserting yourself in your life.

Saying you two were complete opposites wouldn’t really be accurate. You shared similar views, similar passions, similar opinions on what mattered. Yet it was true that, in some ways, you complemented one another. And when it came to those traits in which you differed, well you would like to think that your differences just made you stronger as a couple.

Maybe your friends couldn’t understand how you two got together, or why you were so deeply in love with the person you’d chosen to be your partner. But you didn’t care.

You loved Xiao with all your soul, and, at the end of the day, that was all that mattered.

[vaicomcas]

Thank you so much for you comliments.you have really been a great inspiration for me to start my own story

so you said that you agreed with someone else's post that you woulden't mind cas suffering if the story was about him, and I agree in fact I wouldn't mind if cas's suffering was actually doing anything for the plot, some times he suffered and it did not make any sense like in s12 we had two episodes 10 and 12 if I am not wrong and they did not discuss it any further. so where they even for?

the one with Lily gave a really good look at cas's past but a lot of people use it villanise cas and it angers me so much

SPN writers used all of their side characters as plot devices, I still haven't understood why crowely had to go.

Yeah, first of all I have never understood the desire for "happy ending" (but I know others such as my own husband who cannot fathom the appreciation or even tolerance of sad endings). That personal preference aside, any compelling character goes through hardship and suffering, just like in life everybody experiences pain and humiliation. The problem with the show is what extreme trauma they put Castiel through was not used to charactrize and develop his character and often not even acknowledged. For those of us who see Castiel as the main character, we experience him being pushed aside and used as a tool in his own story.

I actually really like the Lily Sunder episode, even though there is a lot in it that bothers me (the disrespect Dean showed both to Cas and to his angel buddies, the way they as always set Cas up to have to chose between his angel identity and the Winchesters, by making the angels evil of course, and did I mention Dean's assholery?), it is actually one of the few episodes that was all about Castiel, about who he is. I am glad I never saw those posts that villainize him for this episode (how? never mind don't tell me), I would be angered too.

I am not too sure about the point of "stuck in the middle with you" either. I think part of it is to up the ante on the Mary's "betrayal" arc, so they need some serious consequence that viewers would care about . The whole s12 is very depressing-- all about Castiel being down on himself but also his complete dedication to the Winchesters at the same time (this one, and later killing of Billie). Did they intend to show Castiel's dedication to Winchesters as part of him losing his agency? Because that would actually be refreshing, and would be consistent with the choosing Kelly/Jack part ("I've been so lost. I am not lost anymore"). But then as soon as he stopped being lost they killed him, and then it's back to him being sidekick again. They are kind of all over the place arent they? They neither developed the de*tiel thing (which was very palpable in s12) nor developed Castiel as his own character.

One of the worst example for me was when we learned that he got mind wiped over and over for at least thousands of years. It is so horrific but all they used that for was to set up first the "simulated killing of Dean" and then the crypt scene so they get that fake conflict arc with Dean. (It does seem like the show was promoting de*tiel here) Then, it was no longer mentioned ever again, and they immediately turn Naomi, the one who violated and tortured him over thousands of years, the one who murdered a restaurant full of innocent people in cold blood a few episodes ago, into a "good guy" who cares about people and wanted to reconcile with Castiel , and made him seem foolish for not trusting her on the spot, by making Dean wisely believing Naomi in contrast. It makes zero sense all around. Even later when they brought Naomi back she still gets to be some noble figure and Castiel doesn't even get to be mad at her for more than five seconds.

Later they make him go into Dean's mind and marvel "there is so much trauma". While Castiel's trauma, far exceeding any human could possibly imagine, was only used to build up Dean Winchester.

[beevean]

To be fair, game Isaac also wanted revenge on Hector for causing Dracula's death: this is not what N!Isaac "stole" from him. The difference is that in the mangas, Hector's deliberate betrayal kickstarted a chain of events that left Isaac, through no fault of his own, without a home, a Lord, and a close friend he might have even had feelings for: he was forced to live in the nothingness for three years while Hector enjoyed his new life with Rosaly, which fed his growing resentment. I actually feel sorry for him, while still being horrified at the way he chose to get his revenge.

N!Isaac was a fool who underestimated Carmilla and N!Hector, and never cared one iota about the latter, not seeing him as a colleague worth of respect but as a dumb manchild to tolerate with gritted teeth. While him being consumed by anger after Dracula's death makes sense, his hatred for N!Hector in S3 feels forced, because if he blames him for Dracula's downfall, by all means he should blame himself too - now that would have been more interesting than his flat misanthropy.

On top of that, not only the dude lived those months far far far better than N!Hector, to the point where I almost wished he would put the poor sap out of his misery, which kind of kills the tension of him being on the warpath; his final character development was more or less "I don't need to live for Dracula's sake, I like doing things for myself", which is fine, but it's only the first step: dude barely feels a thing over the past month he spent killing innocents out of petty reasons while having overdramatic reactions to their "rudeness", he just liked killing the mad wizard for "just" reasons. Since this is the point where he stole Hector's character development: while I wish the mangas went more into detail about his bloodsoaked past, his remorse is the primary reason he fled and grew. He absolutely reclaimed his agency as well ("I sought this power so that I could remain human! Not for anyone’s sake! For me!! For myself!! Not to be the pawn in some ridiculous plot for revenge!!"), but it was both for his sake and humanity's.

My good man didn't leave the castle with a light heart.

And this makes him a far more noble person than N!Isaac, while still flawed.

N!Isaac is a weird fusion of Isaac, Hector and Death, without fully nailing what made them compelling characters, because while he is the only character who was afforded a coherent character arc, it's still a rushed mess propped together by narrative shilling.

Another flaw of the story is that N!Hector and N!Isaac are not the intertwined foils they are in CoD. They are just the idiot one and the gigachad one, the dude who gets tormented and humiliated for nothing and the dude who gets everything he wants without sacrifice. N!Isaac just pops in in N!Hector's story to stop his OOC attempt of reviving Dracula and jesusly forgive him for the sin of being stupid. N!Hector doesn't even spare a thought about his colleague until he's reminded of his existence, he matters that little to him - even in the very final episode. It's a waste of potential to the highest degree.

And I could also spend words about how game Isaac is more nuanced than fans give him credit for, but that's a matter for another post :P in the meantime, it's obvious that Isaac is Hector's mirror just as much as Dracula is, he's what Hector would have become if he chose loyalty over freedom, if he let the Curse consume him, if he didn't fight for his own agency. Their narratives feed into each other: they drag each other down in a destructive cycle, but Hector ascends in the end, while Isaac hits rock bottom. Which makes sense, since Isaac doesn't want to be his own person and he's content with being Dracula's tool.

People only talking about Netflix Castlevania's Hector makes me kind of sad.

Not because Netflixvania Hector was so broken and tragic, but because OG Hector (who also went through some tragic stuff off screen and before the game officially begins) would have been 100% done with everyone's(Mainly Isaac's) shit and had 0 chill. And the main character of his own fucking video game!

I'm talking HAM levels of anger and tearing everyone up with his bare fists (that's an option btw). He fought Trevor, Saint Germain, and Death and triggered a time paradox!

I don't think it's saying too much that I'm not very impressed with how they handled his character in the Animated Series. Or anything after Season 2... (Except Isaac... I guess...)

[vivithefolle]

Is there anyway you could share the entire livejournal essay about Hermione's reaction to Ron coming back in DH? The few paragraphs that you referred to in your recent answer sound extremely interesting.

[The “recent answer” that goes back to... last December. Oh my god I’m such an ass I left you hanging for so long I’m so sorry.]

Okay, okay, so here goes! KEEP IN MIND: I DIDN’T WRITE THIS. I FOUND THIS ON LIVEJOURNAL AND PICKED EVERYTHING THAT I LIKED ABOUT IT, AS WELL AS SOME COMMENTS THAT INTERESTED ME.

This “essay” was actually more of a “reading the books” thing with the person sharing their thoughts and ideas about it. The person was clearly a Snape fan, but they had sympathy for Ron too. I’ll try to formate it as accurately as I can remember it.

And now, here it is:

---

ORDER OF THE PHOENIX

[About Ron being made a prefect.] The essayist: It’s sad, but this probably is the first time Ron’s beaten Harry at something. And the last time.

A commenter: Ron's had a really difficult life, and this is the book that proved it for me. It made me a Ron fan. Just look at the interactions he has with Fred and George. This is commonplace. I know a lot of people don't like Ron, but just look at this book, this chapter especially. People have accused Ron of being lazy, unambitious, having no emotions, and being a big stupid boy. It's just not true. Look at how Fred and George needle him out of jealousy. Look at how they treat Percy. Imagine Ron having to grow up with two older brothers that will not hesitate to bother, torture and torment people that stand out or that get more attention than they do or that cross them. He saw it happening with Percy, so what's he going to learn? He'll learn to shut up unless he wants to have something happen to him. He'll learn that standing out positively is rewarded with cruelty. I can understand how Mrs. Weasley could not have fully protected him from those two. Not all the time, not while trying to also care for Ginny, keeping up with her other kids in school, and running the household. Worst of all, punishing F&G doesn't seem to do anything. Those two just don't care/they crave the attention, negative or positive. The best thing she could've done would be to give them no attention, but that's so against her nature that unfortunately she just fed the monsters. No emotions? Is it really difficult to understand that sensitivity wouldn't be encouraged in young Ron? He's got these two bullies that only want a reaction out of him. If he cries, it'll only encourage them. Any reaction is encouraging to them, but he has to go with anger. It's a survival thing- puff yourself up, make yourself look bigger than you are so the predator messes with you a little less. Look at the pride Ron's showing in his badge. The desire to do well is there. He likes the good feeling that comes with it, but he's been hard-wired since birth that it's better to be "middle of the pack". In later chapters, I know you'll have to point out the way the power makes Ron behave, so I just want to start on the defence now. It's all Ron knows. It's all he's been taught. It's a huge character flaw, but it's what makes him so human. Rowling did develop this in the book, but only accidentally. We're never going to get a good look at Ron's psychology except through these hints because it's, as usual, All About Harry. Ron's flawed, but I hope we remember that he has a reason why he's got those flaws. It doesn't excuse him, but it really explains him. So yeah... that's why I defend Ron.

...

“I’m not Percy,’ he finished defiantly.”

The essayist: Mmmm-hm. Ron feels nervous at the thought of his good fortune inspiring anger in someone and what's his first defence? "I'm not Percy"? Man, the evidence that the Twins' psychological torment has left lasting scars on Ron could not have been more obvious if he'd shielded himself and said "Please don't jinx me, Fred! ... I mean Harry. ... Shit, what'd I say?"

...

“Excellent,”  said  Ron,  with  a  kind  of  groan  of  longing,  and  he  seized the nearest plate of chops and began piling them onto his plate, watched wistfully by Nearly Headless Nick. “What  were  you  saying  before  the  Sorting?”  Hermione  asked  the  ghost. “About the hat giving warnings?” “Oh  yes,”  said  Nick,  who  seemed  glad  of  a  reason  to  turn  away  from  Ron,  who  was  now  eating  roast  potatoes  with  almost  indecent  enthusiasm.

The essayist: Ron’s not being very restrained with his eating, is he?

The commenter: I don't know if it's accidental or not, but this is one of those moments that I love, one of the tellings of Ron's home life via his behavior. In this scenario, he's totally a kitten who just got adopted to a house where he's the only cat. He's at a table with food, so his instinct is to eat as fast as he can or his siblings will yoink it. It doesn't help that there are many other people around, encouraging the "get the good stuff fast or you'll have to sate yourself on bread or whatever nobody wants". Ron is so much more human than Harry! How can Harry not be showing any signs of his "horrendous abuse" for eleven years? Well... I guess he sort of does when he buys all that stuff in his first year. And I guess Ron has to go back home every summer where it gets reinforced. But Harry goes back every summer, too... what the hell?

...

“What’s going on?” Ron  had  appeared  in  the  doorway.  His  wide  eyes  traveled  from  Harry,  who  was  kneeling  on  his  bed  with  his  wand  pointing  at  Seamus, to Seamus, who was standing there with his fists raised. “He’s having a go at my mother!” Seamus yelled. “What?” said Ron. “Harry wouldn’t do that — we met your mother, we liked her. . .” “That’s  before  she  started  believing  every  word  the  stinking  Daily  Prophet writes about me!” said Harry at the top of his voice. “Oh,”  said  Ron,  comprehension  dawning  across  his  freckled  face.  “Oh . . . right.” “You know what?” said Seamus heatedly, casting Harry a venomous look.  “He’s  right,  I  don’t  want  to  share  a  dormitory  with  him  anymore, he’s a madman.” “That’s out of order, Seamus,” said Ron, whose ears were starting to glow red, always a danger sign. “Out of order, am I?” shouted Seamus, who in contrast with Ron &#145;was  turning  paler.  “You  believe  all  the  rubbish  he’s  come  out  with  about You-Know-Who, do you, you reckon he’s telling the truth?” “Yeah, I do!” said Ron angrily. “Then you’re mad too,” said Seamus in disgust. “Yeah?  Well  unfortunately  for  you,  pal,  I’m  also  a  prefect!”  said  Ron,  jabbing  himself  in  the  chest  with  a  finger.  “So  unless  you  want  detention, watch your mouth!”

The essayist: Note how Ron’s first reaction is to side with Harry.

The commenter: Not surprising because of the best friends thing (some might argue) but I say it's not surprising considering how Hermione and Ron were treating Harry like a ticking time bomb. Survival!

...

“Hello, Harry!” It was Cho Chang and what was more, she was on her own again. This was most unusual: Cho was almost always surrounded by a gang of giggling girls; Harry remembered the agony of trying to get her by herself to ask her to the Yule Ball. “Hi,” said Harry, feeling his face grow hot. At least you’re not covered  in Stinksap this time, he told himself. Cho seemed to be thinking along the same lines. “You got that stuff off, then?” “Yeah,”  said  Harry,  trying  to  grin  as  though  the  memory  of  their  last meeting was funny as opposed to mortifying. “So did you . . . er . . . have a good summer?” The moment he had said this he wished he hadn’t: Cedric had been Cho’s boyfriend and the memory of his death must have affected her holiday  almost  as  badly  as  it  had  affected  Harry’s.  .  . Something  seemed  to  tauten  in  her  face,  but  she  said,  “Oh,  it  was  all  right,  you  know. . .” “Is  that  a  Tornados  badge?”  Ron  demanded  suddenly,  pointing  at  the front of Cho’s robes, to which a sky-blue badge emblazoned with a double gold T was pinned. “You don’t support them, do you?” “Yeah, I do,” said Cho. “Have  you  always  supported  them,  or  just  since  they  started  winning the league?” said Ron, in what Harry considered an unnecessarily accusatory tone of voice. “I’ve supported them since I was six,” said Cho coolly. “Anyway . . . see you, Harry.” She  walked  away.  Hermione  waited  until  Cho  was  halfway  across  the courtyard before rounding on Ron. “You are so tactless!”

The essayist: So Harry meets Cho, makes a complete faux pas and reminds her of her dead boyfriend. Ron quickly steers the conversation away onto something more happy, i.e., Quidditch, before Cho can get too upset. Nevertheless, Ron is apparently the insensitive jerk around here, not Harry.

[If this reminds you of something, then yes, I absolutely took what the essayist was saying and elaborated on it. I confess, I am a dirty thief.]

...

“Well, I suppose he could’ve played better,” Harry muttered, “but it was only the first training session, like you said. . .” Neither Harry nor Ron seemed to make much headway with their homework  that  night.  Harry  knew  Ron  was  too  preoccupied  with  how  badly  he  had  performed  at  Quidditch  practice  and  he  himself  was having difficulty in getting the chant of “Gryffindor are losers” out of his head. [...] And so they worked on while the sky outside the windows became steadily darker; slowly, the crowd in the common room began to thin again.   At   half-past   eleven,   Hermione   wandered   over   to   them,   yawning. “Nearly done?” “No,” said Ron shortly. “Jupiter’s  biggest  moon  is  Ganymede,  not  Callisto,”  she  said,  pointing over Ron’s shoulder at a line in his Astronomy essay, “and it’s Io that’s got the volcanos.” “Thanks,” snarled Ron, scratching out the offending sentences.

The essayist: So Ron’s getting basic facts wrong in his essays.

The commenter: This is going to look so contrived, but I genuinely believe it, and maybe after these reviews, your standards for contrived have dropped enough for me to pass the bar :3 But... he's not putting in any effort. His ego can't take another beating at the moment (even punching bags have limits). Imagine it- after the Quidditch humiliation with his friend the Star Athlete (when he really was trying) he tries to distract himself by doing school work 1. which he isn't very good at anyway, 2. with the Star Athlete of Academics/Slytherin Spectator Crowd best friend Hermione there 3. with Hermione there to set it right anyway (it sounds as if Hermione isn’t so much correcting their essays as writing them herself). If he tries his best at this and then fails at that, Ron probably would start to consider suicide. It's self-preservation at this point to put in zero effort. This kind of fail is literally "I'm not trying because I have given up."

...

She  wrenched  her  bag  open;  Harry  thought  she  was  about  to  put  her books away, but instead she pulled out two misshapen woolly objects,  placed  them  carefully  on  a  table  by  the  fireplace,  covered  them  with  a  few  screwed-up  bits  of  parchment  and  a  broken  quill,  and  stood back to admire the effect. “What  in  the  name  of  Merlin  are  you  doing?”  said  Ron,  watching  her as though fearful for her sanity. “They’re  hats  for  house-elves,”  she  said  briskly,  now  stuffing  her  books  back  into  her  bag.  “I  did  them  over  the  summer.  I’m  a  really  slow  knitter  without  magic,  but  now  I’m  back  at  school  I  should  be  able to make lots more.” “You’re leaving out hats for the house-elves?” said Ron slowly. “And you’re covering them up with rubbish first?” “Yes,” said Hermione defiantly, swinging her bag onto her back. “That’s not on,” said Ron angrily. “You’re trying to trick them into picking  up  the  hats.  You’re  setting  them  free  when  they  might  not  want to be free.” “Of  course  they  want  to  be  free!”  said  Hermione  at  once,  though  her face was turning pink. “Don’t you dare touch those hats, Ron!” She left. Ron waited until she had disappeared through the door to the girls’ dormitories, then cleared the rubbish off the woolly hats. They  should  at  least  see  what  they’re  picking  up,”  he  said  firmly.  “Anyway  .  .  .”  He  rolled  up  the  parchment  on  which  he  had  written  the title of Snape’s essay. “There’s no point trying to finish this now, I can’t  do  it  without  Hermione,  I  haven’t  got  a  clue  what  you’re  supposed to do with moonstones, have you?”

The essayist: This doesn’t seem like a particularly open-minded and enquiring position to take, although I suppose that Hermione’s open-mindedness has always been something of an informed attribute.

The commenter: This trope among fans has got me riled up beyond belief because they use the "Hermione's word is gospel" thing to make unfair assumptions about other characters: Ron's "emotional range of a teaspoon" thing comes to mind, and right after that, Lavender supposedly being silly about believing Trelawney about her dead pet (Hermione never considered that maybe the thing Lavender was dreading was bad news from home or bad news about her pet). Regarding house elves: This is one case where the fans ought to have seen that Hermione was being very thoughtless as far as strategy. Ron has lived all his life up until this point thinking that there was no problem with house elves and she literally expects to be able to just tell him "it's wrong" and he's supposed to change instantly? Talk about your cultural insensitivity. In this case, maybe Ron knows better than you do, Hermione? You didn't even know about house elves until you were at least twelve (but more likely, she didn't know until this year). She must understand the concept of "he doesn't know it's wrong". That was how she defended Crookshanks when he was chasing Scabbers. ... Hey, Hermione thinks Ron's smarter than her cat. That's something, I guess.

...

The commenter: Competition is seriously the worst thing in the world for Ron. He's got wa-a-ay too much baggage. Do well so they'll love you. Do well so they'll notice you. If they notice you, you'll get praised. And tormented by Fred and George. Then if you fuck up, you'll have let everyone down. My brothers never let anyone down. That's the standard. Oh God, I can't live up to that. Which do I want to chose- being ignored or scorned? I could do well. Then I'll be good enough to be called "just like them"! JFC, when's it ever going to be "Good like Ron"? Chess. Literally everyone else has one thing they shine in, even Neville with his Botany and Dean with his art (and... and I'm going to ignore the fact that Hermione and Luna are the only two I can think of with non-appearance based special stuff... someone please help me out? I guess Tonks' doesn't really count as a shallow one because it makes her a master of disguise...)

...

HALF-BLOOD PRINCE

...

Ron gagged on a large piece of kipper. Hermione spared him one look of disdain before turning back to Harry.

The essayist: “Hermione spared [Ron] one look of disdain before turning back to Harry” pretty much sums up her relationships within the trio. It’s no wonder Ron’s so insecure and keeps worrying that she really fancies Harry.

...

“And you’ve been through all that persecution from the Ministry when they were trying to make out you were unstable and a liar. You can still see the marks on the back of your hand where that evil woman made you write with your own blood, but you stuck to your story anyway...”  “You  can  still  see  where  those  brains  got  hold  of  me  in  the  Ministry,  look,”  said  Ron,  shaking  back his sleeves.  “And  it  doesn’t  hurt  that  you’ve  grown  about  a  foot  over  the  summer  either,”  Hermione  finished, ignoring Ron.  “I’m tall,” said Ron inconsequentially.

The essayist: Ron’s so adorably pathetic here, the way he’s obviously feeling inferior to Harry and being ignored by his so-called friends. *hugs Ron*

...

When they left the Gryffindor table five minutes later to head down to the Quidditch pitch, they passed  Lavender  Brown  and  Parvati  Patil.  Remembering  what  Hermione  had  said  about  the  Patil  twins’  parents  wanting  them  to  leave  Hogwarts,  Harry  was  unsurprised  to  see  that  the  two  best  friends were whispering together, looking distressed. What did surprise him was that when Ron drew level with them, Parvati suddenly nudged Lavender, who looked around and gave Ron a wide smile. Ron blinked at her, then returned the smile uncertainly. His walk instantly became something more like a strut. Harry resisted the temptation to laugh, remembering that Ron had refrained from doing so  after  Malfoy  had  broken  Harry’s  nose;  Hermione,  however,  looked  cold  and  distant  all  the  way  down  to  the  stadium  through  the  cool,  misty  drizzle,  and  departed  to  find  a  place  in  the  stands  without wishing Ron good luck. 

The essayist: Hermione keeps belittling Ron and doing him down, and reacts quite strongly when he even so much hints at losing interest in her and showing attention to another woman. Can we say “abusive relationship”, anybody?

...

“Harry! Ginny!” Hermione was hurrying toward them, very pink-faced and wearing a cloak, hat, and gloves. “I got back a couple of hours ago, I've just been down to visit Hagrid and Buck--I mean Witherwings,” she said breathlessly. “Did you have a good Christmas?” “Yeah,” said Ron at once, “pretty eventful, Rufus Scrim—” “I've got something for you, Harry,” said Hermione, neither looking at Ron nor giving any sign that she had heard him. “Oh, hang on--password. Abstinence.”

The essayist: Wow, Hermione’s just being so childish here, ignoring Ron when he’s talking directly to her. Incidentally, Ron’s speaking to her like a normal friend, it’s Hermione who’s doing the blanking. Still, I’m sure this argument is all Ron’s fault for daring to go out with another girl. Hermione is totally blameless.

[Just in case: the essayist is being sarcastic, they’re pointing out the double standard of the HP fandom blaming Hermione’s immature behaviour on Ron.]

...

DEATHLY HALLOWS

...

“I think you’re right,” she told him. “It’s just a morality tale, it’s obvious which gift is best, which one you’d choose—” The three of them spoke at the same time; Hermione said, “the Cloak,” Ron said, “the wand,” and Harry said, “the stone.” They looked at each other, half surprised, half amused. “You’re supposed to say the Cloak,” Ron told Hermione, “but you wouldn’t need to be invisible if you had the wand. An unbeatable wand, Hermione, come on!” “We’ve already got an Invisibility Cloak,” said Harry. “And it’s helped us rather a lot, in case you hadn’t noticed!” said Hermione. “Whereas the wand would be bound to attract trouble—” “Only if you shouted about it,” argued Ron. “Only if you were prat enough to go dancing around, waving it over your head, and singing, ‘I’ve got an unbeatable wand, come and have a go if you think you’re good enough.’ As long as you kept your trap shut—” “Yes, but could you keep your trap shut?” said Hermione, looking skeptical. “You know, the only true thing he said to us was that there have been stories about extra-powerful wands for hundreds of years.” “There have?” asked Harry. Hermione looked exasperated: the expression was so endearingly familiar that Harry and Ron grinned at each other.

The commenter (?): Actually, I thought that Ron was proving the errors in the story. Because he’s right. The eldest brother didn’t die because the Elder Wand had corrupted him (like the One Ring). He died because he was an idiot. He died because he randomly decided to start blabbing about his new toy.

“You talk about wands like they’ve got feelings,” said Harry, “like they canthink for themselves.” “The wand chooses the wizard,” said Ollivander. “That much has always been clear to those of us who have studied wandlore.” “A person can still use a wand that hasn’t chosen them, though?” asked Harry. “Oh yes, if you are any wizard at all you will be able to channel your magic through almost any instrument. The best results, however, must always come where there is the strongest affinity between wizard and wand. These connections are complex. An initial attraction, and then a mutual quest for experience, the wand learning from the wizard, the wizard from the wand.”

The essayist: Harry’s wand has to think for and protect him because he’s too stupid and incompetent to think for and protect himself! Ollivander’s the expert, and he just admitted it. He said any halfway decent wizard can perform magic with almost any wand. The reason Harry could only work with the holly wand is because of the phoenix feather core it shares with Voldemort’s wand. That is, it wasn’t Harry doing the magic with Harry’s wand! It was the Voldemort soul piece! Once Harry was forced to use wands that didn’t have that core, the soul piece couldn’t do the work for Harry any more. He was forced to rely on his own magical powers and competence, which are clearly minimal. This is proven by his inability to do effective magic with any other wand. It’s also proven by an incident from Philosopher’s Stone. Remember when Harry was being chased by bullies and inexplicably found himself on top of the shed roof? That was the soul piece allowing him to fly like Voldy. Lily could slow her descent from a height, as if she had an invisible parachute, but that is not the same as flying, and we have no evidence she could fly. Only Voldemort and Snape fly without assistance! The evidence is overwhelming that I am right. How many spells can Harry do effectively? Expelliarmus, Expecto Patronum, Protego--that’s it. Even as a young adult, he is incapable of doing the basic healing or cleaning spells a young child should have down pat before going to Hogwarts. Of course, we’re told the Patronus spell is difficult and advanced, but who told us that? Remus Lupin, friend of Harry’s father, sycophant, and notorious liar, particularly when it comes to flattering Harry. Recall Lupin also said Snape didn’t like James because Snape was envious of Potter Sr.’s Quidditch prowess, and we know that was a lie. Given this evidence, anything Lupin says that cannot be confirmed by an independent source, especially regarding the Potters, should be dismissed out of hand. True, Hermione has trouble with the Patronus spell, and she’s super-competent. Doesn’t that prove it’s a very difficult spell? Not at all. To take an example from a different field, Beethoven was a virtuoso organist, the greatest pianist of his day, one of the greatest pianists in history, and probably the greatest improvisational musician ever. But he was only a decent violinist. Everybody has areas of weakness, no matter how good they are overall. In addition, Hermione is very gullible where authority figures are concerned. If a teacher tells her, “The Patronus is a very difficult, advanced spell that many people can’t ever master,” she’ll believe that, which may create a self-fulfilling prophecy. A couple of years ago, another DTCL member and I facetiously suggested Harry was less intelligent than his wand. We didn’t know we were right. It rarely happens, but this is an occasion when I would have preferred to be wrong.

...

If only there was a way of getting a better wand... And desire for the Elder Wand, the Deathstick, unbeatable, invincible, swal-lowed him once more... They packed up the tent next morning and moved on through a dreary shower of rain. The downpour pursued them to the coast, where they pitched the tent that night, and persisted through the whole week, through sodden landscapes that Harry found bleak and depressing. He could think only of the Deathly Hallows. It was as though a flame had been lit inside him that nothing, not Hermione’s flat disbelief nor Ron’s persistent doubts, could extinguish. And yet the fiercer the longing for the Hallows burned inside him, the less joyful it made him. He blamed Ron and Hermione: Their determined indifference was as bad as the relentless rain for dampening his spirits, but neither could erode his certainty, which remained absolute. Harry’s belief in and longing for the Hallows consumed him so much that he felt isolated from the other two and their obsession with the Horcruxes. [...] As the weeks crept on, Harry could not help but notice, even through his new self-absorption, that Ron seemed to be taking charge. Perhaps because he was determined to make up for having walked out on them, perhaps because Harry’s descent into listlessness galvanized his dormant leadership qualities, Ron was the one now encouraging and exhorting the other two into action. [...] But not until March did luck favor Ron at last.

The essayist: MARCH! That’s right, ladies and gentlemen. The first fifteen pages of this chapter cover three months, and during that entire time, Harry Potter does nothing, nothing, but sit on his ass fantasizing about the Elder Wand and trying to connect with his Voldie-soul mate. Oh, wait. He also tries to open the snitch so he can get the stone out of it. (Nothing gay about that, either.) I wish he’d succeed in that, too. Maybe he’d swallow the stone, and it would end up in his scrotum. He sure needs something that works down there. Harry doesn’t have the right to bail out on his society like this. He can’t have it both ways. He can’t have the adulation that goes with being Mr. Boy-Who-Lived-Chosen-One-Wizarding-World-Savior and abdicate the responsibilities that go along with those titles and that adulation. Look at what happens in this chapter: Harry becomes obsessed with finding and uniting the Hallows, so much so that he withdraws from his friends, bails out on the job his idol Dumbledore gave him, and spends all his time brooding and trying to connect with the Dull Lord. In other words, he acts clinically depressed. Ron and Hermione were exposed to the same information Harry was, but they didn’t become obsessed/depressed. Ron was mildly interested in the Super-Wand, but not enough to distract him from the Horcrux hunt. Hermione dismissed the whole DH story as nonsense and continued following Dumbestbore’s orders. So why weren’t they tempted?

...

The essayist: Harry opens the locket using Parseltongue--interesting that this never occurred to him before now--and two ghostly figures emerge. They’re Voldie-versions of Harry and Hermione, and they articulate Ron’s worst fears: “Least loved, always, by the mother who craved a daughter...Least loved, now, by the girl who prefers your friend...Second best, always, eternally overshadowed...” I’ll say it again: When you’re right, you’re right. The evidence is overwhelming that Molly Weasley treated Ron the worst of all her children. And if Rowling doesn’t want us to ship HP/HG, she needs to quit throwing them together and making them leaders, with Ron either in the background or absent entirely. JKR obviously wants us to automatically dismiss certain statements just because they’re made by “bad guys” such as Voldemort and Rita Skeeter. There are two problems with this: (1) The “lies” make perfect sense, far more sense than what we’re supposed to believe. (2) Even pathological liars sometimes tell the truth, typically when it won’t hurt their own interests to do so. For those of us who live in what cartoonist Garry Trudeau calls “the reality-based community,” the evidence is what matters, not what we’re told by authority figures. Those of us in the higher stages of spiritual development are funny that way.

...

The essayist: Well, whose fault is that, Ms. Rowling? You’re the one who’s spent the last four books making Ron dumber and dumber, depriving him of any meaningful activity, while you shoved Harry and Hermione into increasingly dominant roles.

The commenter: Are we supposed to look down on Ron now so that we can condemn him for leaving Harry and Hermione? Because if so, then that’s just unfair. Every time Ron tries to come up with an idea, Hermione criticizes him or shoots him down. And the twins have done a fine job of intimidating Ron into remaining mediocre and modest so that he doesn’t remind them of Percy, so what is he supposed to do? How is he supposed to come up with ideas when he’s surrounded by people who basically tell him to shut up and sit down?

The essayist: Just then, Hermione comes out of the tent with cups of tea, with tears running down her face and looking terrified her “friend” is going to curse her with her own wand.

The commenter: So, Hermione will snarl at Ron all day long, but cower in fear when Harry gets mad. Is she projecting herself onto Harry and assuming that just because *she’s* quick to hex people who anger her (Ron, Marietta, etc.), Harry will do the same to her?

The essayist: The evidence is overwhelming that Molly Weasley treated Ron the worst of all her children.

The commenter: And blatantly showed favoritism to Harry while snarling at Ron in the same breath. Of course, Horcrux!Tom doesn’t bring that up, because JKR would have to admit that there might be something wrong with Molly favoring Harry the way she does. The essayist: Hermione acts so crazy Harry has to put a protection charm between her and Ron.

The commenter: Yeah…sorry, it’s not “slapstick” anymore when somebody actually has to stop her from hitting Ron. When Harry feels that the situation is dangerous enough that his intervention is necessary. That’s not funny. That’s a true-crime episode. What gets me is that Hermione's tantrum lasts for days. It goes on for several pages into the next chapter. She doesn't start acting normal again until she comes up with the idea of visiting Xeno Lovegood. The essayist: Hermione tells Ron she still hasn’t ruled out attacking him with birds again.

The commenter: *flatly* So, all of the fans who cooed about how “great” it was for Hermione to show “girl power” by sending Ron to the hospital wing in HBP or breezily dismissed the scene as just tired teenage melodrama? Can put a sock in it. Hermione has clearly learned nothing, JKR clearly feels that that scene was funny, and at no point are we supposed to think that Hermione is an abuser. Even though, if the genders were reversed, fans would be calling for Ron’s head on a platter if he dared lay a finger on Hermione. No. This isn’t funny. This isn’t charming. Hermione hurt Ron so badly in HBP that he had to go to the hospital wing. And she tried to repeat the damage she caused here. Is she going to attack him with birds again after they get married? Is she going to do it in front of their children? Will it be “cute” and “funny” then? No, if a man is an abusive monster for losing his temper and trying to hurt his girlfriend, then Hermione is an abusive monster for losing her temper and trying to hurt her boyfriend. Not only did Hermione land Ron in the infirmary with the first attack, but she wants to do it again at a time when they are on the run. She will NOT be able to take an injured Ron to Hogwarts infirmary, nor to St. Mungos. In other words - she intends for him to remain injured and stick with them while camping, or else he must apparate away while injured, risking another splinching so he could be healed.

...

The essayist: Ron and Harry go back to the tent, and Harry fades into the background so as not to interfere with the lovers’ reunion. That’s a mistake. After Harry wakes Hermione, she shows her delight at Ron’s return by--attacking him? She punches him over a dozen times while yelling at him and screaming for her wand from Harry. Remember last chapter, when I talked about how immature Hermione is? Here’s your proof.

[The essayist quotes an article that I haven’t been able to find, but paraphrased: it speaks of a father who came to pick up his 4 y/o daughter from daycare, a little later than usual, and the daughter reacted by punching and hitting her father, upset at his being late. Additional read:  “The parents must know that physical aggression is a common yet natural problem faced by toddlers.”]

The essayist: So there you have it: Hermione Granger, know-it-all supergirl, is so immature she acts like a preschool child when the boyfriend she’s been missing finally returns. I’m not suggesting she has a father-daughter relationship with Ron; this kind of anger is found in other relationships, too. What I am saying is that her way of expressing her anger is appropriate for a very young child. While adults may certainly feel this kind of anger and desire to hit when reunited with a loved one under similar circumstances, they don’t act it out. That restraint is what separates adults from children. Hermione acts so crazy Harry has to put a protection charm between her and Ron. I frankly found her behavior so out of control as to suggest mental instability. She engages in two full pages of histrionics before throwing herself into a chair, sitting so tensely I’m surprised the circulation isn’t cut off to her arms and legs. She remains in a bratty snit until the end of the chapter, which is another six pages.  Hermione is still pouting the next morning. I’m wondering if her real problem is not that Ron left, but that she didn’t. Is she angry at him because he had the guts to admit they were blowing it and take a time out, while she just kept trailing along after Harry like a lost house elf? I think she’s definitely mad because she’s always controlled Ron and their relationship. How dare he assert his independence of her! Who does he think he is? Her equal? In an AU, maybe. This is called the Potterverse after all, not the Ronverse.  Hermione’s having a bad month. First Ron runs out on them; then she saves Harry’s life, but he’s an ungrateful jerk about it; then Harry asserts his independence; then Ron comes back but doesn’t grovel sufficiently for her taste. All this mistreatment is going to give her the idea she’s just a normal character and not an Author’s Darling.   While Ron was gone, he was captured by bad guys called Snatchers, who are bounty hunters for Voldemort. In getting away, he got a spare wand, which he gives to Harry. Of course, it doesn’t work as well as Harry’s “real” wand, so Harry’s still in a snit about that, and with Hermione in a snit, too, they’re a cheerful bunch. Honestly, I don’t know why Ron puts up with these two. The Hs are so spoiled and self-centered, they deserve each other, but I don’t think this is what HP/HG shippers mean when they proclaim the two as an OTP. Sane, normal Ron doesn’t deserve either one of them. Run, Ron! Run while you still can!

...

The essayist: As an interesting aside, ròn is the Celtic word for seal. In Druid lore, seals represent love, longing, and dilemma. No more appropriate totem animal could be imagined for this boy whose sense of selfhood is undermined by his longing for love from a rejecting mother and inadequate father, and who, like the selchie wives of folklore, is faced with the impossible choice of being who he truly is and being rejected, or denying the best part of himself to gain love. Ron’s intelligence and independence threaten his insecure wife (and best friend), just as the selchie’s identity as a seal-woman threatens her human husband; Ron imprisons himself by hiding who he is so the Hs can feel smart and in charge, just as the selchie’s human husband imprisons his wife by hiding her sealskin in a trunk.

[sokkastyles]

So a while ago @tea-and-la​ asked me to elaborate on something I said about Katara and Iroh being parallels with respect to their relationship with Aang and Zuko, respectively. And in order to really analyze this, I think I would have to look at the series as a whole, because I suspect that it’s a parallel that runs through most of the series, until season three where I think the writers drop the ball on Aang’s development, and part of that has to do with his relationship to Katara. But for now I just want to focus on one episode, and that’s “The Southern Air Temple.”

The A plot sees Aang, Katara, and Sokka journey to the titular temple and Aang’s home. Aang is excited, but Katara is wary, warning Aang that things have changed in the past hundred years that he’s been frozen in the iceberg.

In the B plot, we have Iroh and Zuko docking to repair their ship after the encounter with Aang and co., and running into Zhao, who Zuko immediately shows his dislike for. Zuko also doesn’t want anyone to know that he’s found the Avatar after a hundred years.

Juxtaposing these two storylines is smart from a world-building and character-building standpoint. We get a short history lesson on the past hundred years and how things have changed, from the perspective of both the other nations and within the Fire Nation itself. The storyline also links these two parallel narratives together after the initial encounter between Aang and Zuko, having them diverge but both explore similar thematic elements, both following the threads of the hundred year war and Aang’s disappearance, and how both of those things have affected the world.

In the A plot, Katara plays the role of a mentor/guide to Aang, ushering him into a world with which he is unfamiliar. She warns him that things may not be as he remembers, and of the brutality of the Fire Nation, to which Aang reacts with disbelief.

Katara: [Uneasily.] Aang, before we get to the temple, I want to talk to you about the airbenders.

Aang: [Cheerfully.] What about 'em?

Katara: Well, I just want you to be prepared for what you might see. The Fire Nation is ruthless. [Sadly.] They killed my mother, and they could have done the same to your people.

Aang: [Ponders over her words for a bit. Hopefully.] Just because no one has seen an airbender, doesn't mean the Fire Nation killed them all. They probably escaped!

Katara: [Places one hand on Aang's shoulder.] I know it's hard to accept.

Aang: [Cheerfully, as Katara moves her hand back to her side.] You don't understand, Katara. The only way to get to an airbender temple is on a flying bison, and I doubt the Fire Nation has any flying bison! Right, Appa?

It’s understandable that Aang would have a hard time admitting what we the audience already know. Having to process the grief of losing your entire people after the shock of being cryo-frozen for a hundred years would be too much for an adult. Aang loves his people and so of course doesn’t believe that they couldn’t have escaped. But Katara, who has had to process the grief of losing a loved one, knows what the Fire Nation is capable of.

In Zuko and Iroh’s plotline, Iroh tries to deescalate things between Zuko and Zhao. The scene gets across Zuko’s hot-headedness, but if we look closer we can see that Zhao comes across as petty for picking a fight with a banished teenager and trying to rub his disgrace in his nose, and Zuko is desperately trying to deny the truth of Zhao’s words, that his father really doesn’t care about him. Iroh warns Zuko about dueling with Zhao:

Iroh: [Worried.] Prince Zuko, have you forgotten what happened last time you dueled a master?

Zuko: [Darkly.] I will never forget.

Both Aang and Zuko impulsively rush into situations that their respective mentor figures try to protect them from, and deny the truth of the source of their trauma. Both Katara and Iroh are also put in the role of caretaker, and try to protect their respective charges, and both have that position threatened in this episode.

Sokka: You know, you can't protect him forever.

-

Zhao: It's a shame your father won't be here to watch me humiliate you. I guess your uncle will do.

 Finally, both Aang and Zuko are violently forced to come face to face with their trauma. Aang by finding Gyatso’s skeleton and Zuko by facing a second agni kai against Zhao.

Aang, upon realizing the truth of the Air Nomad genocide, goes into the Avatar State, and is cooled down by Katara.

Zuko has the chance to scar Zhao in a repeat of what was done to him, but doesn’t. Zhao attacks Zuko once his back is turned, and Zuko reacts in rage, but is stopped by Iroh.

The episode ends with Katara reaffirming that Aang still has a family, with a final shot of Aang looking wistfully back at the home that he has lost. Which is one of my favorite shots in the series. Dang, this show has some beautiful visuals.

And Zuko and Iroh walking away, with Iroh affirming to Zuko that honor is not something that can be arbitrarily given or taken away, but gained by doing the right thing.

If you’ve read some of my other meta, you might have guessed where I’m going with this, and this is the part where I become critical of the writing, as I do believe the parallels between Zuko’s anger, which he is forced to confront and overcome throughout his arc, and Aang learning to control the Avatar State were initially intentional, and that this is a set up for Aang to master the Avatar State by mastering his own fear and rage, the way Zuko does. They even both have a mystical literal manifestation of that anger, Aang’s being the Avatar State and Zuko’s being his rage-fueled firebending. I think there are several other episodes where I would point to that being the case, and that set up was created as early as this, the third episode of season one. 

I also think that one of the key steps to mastering it is getting rid of the attachment to and reliance on the caretaker figure. Zuko had to stop relying on Iroh to get him out of things and take responsibility for his own actions. Aang continues to rely on Katara and, I would argue, takes advantage of her quite a bit, and I think the show could have done something great with giving Aang and Katara an arc similar to Zuko and Iroh’s, possibly facing a physical separation for a while before coming together with a greater understanding of and love for each other. It seems like the seeds for that were even sown in season three, then dropped in favor of a dramatic balcony kiss with nothing but negative build-up leading up to it. And Katara is the one who suffers the most for it because she’s expected to be both Aang’s caretaker and his love interest.

[slytherinsnekxvii]

let's talk about lily evans. she's an interesting character—or rather, the case surrounding her character is quite interesting.

i honestly don't know if i can say i dislike her. by all means, she should be a fan favourite, and she is... but for some rather intriguing reasons.

for one thing, due to the fact she's hardly expanded on in the series, certain parts of the fandom have been forced to either take the few qualities that she displays canonically and amplify them to the extreme (eg. immediate righteous anger at the slightest hint of injustice in fic) or create an entirely new personality (eg. no, i didn't actually disapprove of your pranks, it was just sexual tension). of course, the option of creating a new personality is much more tempting when you can just add amplified canon traits on the side.

for another, her relationship with james sometimes seems likes it's being weaponized against snape and his fans. i've seen arguments that go like "haha, snape just wanted to fuck lily, but james got her in the end anyway, sucks to be you", and not only does it entirely reduce her to an object, it feels like they don't even care about the relationship, the dynamics or the characters. she's basically a plot device.

and thirdly, half of her characterisation in fic is to be a peter stand-in. we don't like the rat man, so let's take the pretty girl and put her in place of the guy who was canonically a member of the marauders, even up until he was named secret keeper. suddenly, she's a prankster and an enabler.

but, snek, you may say, all of that is fanon lily, tho. you just explained that people seem to like her because they just put any personality they want into her as long as she's at least vaguely a good person. you would be right.

let's look at canon lily. she's described as the brightest witch of her age, most everyone speaks favourably of her. in fact, the only people we see actively disliking/being upset with her are petunia, out of jealousy and the invasion of privacy concerning her letter, severus, who lashed out and used a slur that also applied to him in a moment of serious distress and apologised after, and well, pureblood supremacists by virtue of her being muggleborn. interestingly enough, even this dislike manages to develop everyone's character more than it does her own.

as a teenage girl myself, let's look at her actions as a teenage girl. not necessarily in chronological order because I'm writing this at 2am and my memory is already mediocre at best.

1. she's done well enough in school to be considered trustworthy and responsible enough to be a prefect.

okay, i can respect that. a good few of the prefects at my school were really just appointed based on how much the teachers liked you, but at hogwarts, there's so few of them that they must put at least a little effort into it, so i'll move on.

2. she does not press for details when informed that her best friend's life needed to be saved by someone who has been publicly tormenting him for years

now, see, there's no reason why she needs to play therapist. it's not her job, she's just a girl, and we know that snape wasn't supposed to talk about the incident, so he would've been stuck if she had asked for an explanation. however, i also feel like she doesn't seem particularly concerned about his wellbeing, and when he brings up his concerns about lupin, rather than ask for proof, she dismisses it. which, fair enough, i would hate to listen to someone talk about the same thing over and over and over, but, i also feel like the fixation on a theory like that would be cause for concern.

3. she dismisses the actions of a group known to play tricks that harm people and have specifically been tormenting her best friend on the basis that they don't use dark magic

first, i'm going to establish what i usually assume dark magic refers to. aside from jinxes, hexes and curses, i also include anything that produces an effect similar to any of the unforgivables (takes away your life, your free will or your ability to feel safe in your own body, such as when you're in excruciating pain), and magic that would require a sacrifice of some sort.

when snape tries to point out the danger in what the marauders do, she insists that they don't use dark magic. and they don't... but they do use illegal magic. she then argues against the company that snape keeps, which, again, to be fair, is justified considering mulciber's done something to mary macdonald... it's also not a particularly realistic ask. snape probably shares a dorm with these guys, and he's a poor half-blood so he's already on the outs. as far as he knows, any dissent will be met with him getting hexed in his sleep. but, i digress.

given that the marauders have been shown to be doing extremely dangerous with little regards to anyone's safety, and actively tormenting her best friend, i disagree with her choice here. on the other hand, she's made her own friends in gryffindor and perhaps she sees a nicer side of them that we don't get to. she's justified in her actions, but i still disagree.

4. she intervenes when her best friend is hung upside down by a spell of his own invention at the wands of the people who have tormenting him for years

she does object to the marauders' treatment of him, and she does try to get them to let him down. if i were in her position, i would absolutely do the same. i respect the decision to stand up for her friend.

5. she does not seriously attempt to help him or punish the marauders

i do not respect how she handled it. at any point, she could have drawn her wand. but, snek, you say, perhaps she didn't want to get involved physically. she wanted to follow the rules. in that case, at any point, she could taken points, assigned detention, or sent someone to get a member of staff. she does none of those things and i viscerally disagree. if we were ever friends and someone tried to hurt you, i can assure you that i would try to at least see to it that they'd be punished, even if it wasn't immediate or by my own hand. lily, however, chooses to argue rather than take action.

6. she smiles when severus gets hung upside down

chances are, it was more than likely an involuntary reaction, like laughing when your friend has fallen over. however, the fact that it was intentionally written in seems like it's mean to be an indicator that the friendship was already falling apart.

7. she comments on her best friend's poverty and uses a name that's been used to make fun of him after he calls her a slur that also applies to him

she was 100% within her rights to be upset by being called a slur. it is never okay to use slurs. the only situation in which a slur could possibly ever be appropriate would be if you were an oppressed group attempting to reclaim said slur which is not at all what snape was doing here. he was experiencing cruelty, being humiliated, publicly, for no reason beyond existing and he was in distress, choking on soap and upside down. it was damaging to his pride, especially when james suggests that he needs lily to fight his battles for him (paraphrasing) which is an emasculating statement to make, especially to a teenage boy. so, snape lashes out with the most hurtful word he could think of, which happened to be a slur that also applies to him. lily was 100% justified in being upset about this, and she retaliated in kind. she was very much allowed to say what she said. i understand that she was hurt and angry and i respect that, especially as i can't guarantee that i would not have been just as upset in that situation.

8. even when the threat of sexual harassment is made, she still does nothing

i get it, at this point, she's hurt, she's mad, she wants him to suffer since she's a teenage girl and teenage girls hold grudges like it's nobody's business, but... i definitely couldn't just stand by and watch it happen. she basically just let them go through with it.

9. she does not accept her best friend's apology for calling her a slur that also applies to him, effectively burying the friendship

she is, by no means, obligated to continue being friends with him. however, if i were in that position, and the apology was sincere, i would take the friend back.

10. she goes on to date and eventually marry the guy who bullied her former best friend for his entire school life

no. i disagree. but, snek, you say, james changed. no. he didn't. we know, that at this point, james was still going after snape behind lily's back. you can say that she didn't know, but that means that she would have allowed james to lie to her and that doesn't sit right with me bc a relationship built on lies is a relationship that is going to fall apart, especially when your partner has been disappointed by your actions before. you can say that she did know, and that proves that she simply didn't take her responsibilities as head girl seriously enough to stop the head boy from harassing people when she explicitly told him not to. the point is, no. there is no way that this would have worked out as a long term relationship. james is too comfortable lying to her. i can't even say she was justified. there is no circumstance where i personally see this as okay for anybody involved.

alright, so, essentially teenage lily was justified in (most of) her actions, even if i find them questionable.

adult lily dies at 21, while saving her son, but her death also helps save the wizarding world. good job. she, as expected, did what any good mother would.

and that's canon lily.

my thoughts: she's a perfect example of why writing tips are so adamant on making sure people try to show and not tell. we were told that lily is meant to be good and pure and lovely, but the author never bothered to actually prove that, so what we're left with a dissonance between what we see and what we know.

as a result, i still don't know if i truly dislike her. her actions are justified, but they don't match with what we've been told, and we don't have any other information to go off of. at best, i can say for certain that i disagree with many of her choices, despite understanding why she would have made them (except for marrying james potter, uggghh, the only good thing to come out of that was harry and the saving of the wizarding world by extension, ig).

thanks for reading all that, btw! hope it made sense :)